Apprentice of the Sage
by zentary
Summary: An old man watches the battle between Naruto and Sasuke at VOTE. Once the battle is over, this mysterious old man takes Naruto with him. What does he want with Naruto, and who is he? Strong smart Naruto. Naruto and Hinata later on. AU. no bashing *POLL*
1. A Mysterious Old Man

**Chapter 1**

A Mysterious Old Man

A man watched the fight between Naruto and Sasuke come to a close. He had long gray spiky hair that flowed down his back, and a gray beard. His eyes were barely open. The man noticed that, at the very end, the blonde-haired boy had intentionally missed. The rain began to suddenly pour down in buckets.

"Very interesting. I wonder if the boy is still alive," the man mused to himself. The mysterious man made his way down to the blonde boy. He found him to be alive, but very weak. He scooped Naruto in his arms and started walking up the side of the cliff. "Perhaps you'll be the one I've been looking for all these years." The mysterious man disappeared into the forest with Naruto.

Kakashi came to the edge of the Valley of the End to see all the destruction. He surveyed the area, but he found no sign of either Naruto or Sasuke.

"Pakkun?"

Pakkun shook his head. "There is the scent of blood scattered all around the valley. It smells like most of it is Naruto's. It's rather hard to tell. The rain's washing the scent away too fast."

"Do you think Sasuke killed him and...?" Kakashi asked, looking downstream, not wanting to believe in the worst-case scenario.

"I'm sorry to say, that's probably what happened. I don't want to think he's dead either, but I have nothing for you that says otherwise." Pakkun saw a forehead protector. "It's Sasuke's. I'm sorry, Kakashi, but I think we may have to report Naruto as KIA. The scent of Naruto's blood is all over this."

Kakashi sighed. He really didn't want to have to file this report to the Hokage. He knew Tsunade would be very upset by the news. Kakashi picked up Sasuke's forehead protector and stuffed it in his vest. "Let's go, Pakkun. I might as well get this over with."

"I'm sorry, Kakashi..."

The two left the valley and headed back to the village. Kakashi and Pakkun traveled through the trees for some time before running into the medical unit that had been sent out.

"What is the status of Sasuke Uchiha and Naruto Uzumaki?" the medic asked.

"Sasuke Uchiha is gone. Naruto Uzumaki most likely killed in action," Kakashi replied in an almost dead tone.

The medic said nothing more on the matter. "The other Gennin are alive, but a few of them are in critical condition. All of them are expected to survive and make full recoveries."

"That's good," Kakashi stated before pulling ahead of the medic. He really didn't want to talk with anyone right now. All too soon, however, he reached the front gates of the village. He saw Tsunade standing there. Kakashi knew she wasn't going to take this news well at all.

"Where's Naruto, Kakashi?" It seemed Tsunade didn't care about Sasuke at all at the moment.

"I'm afraid I was too late, Tsunade. Sasuke has escaped. I found his forehead protector on the ground. I have it here with me."

"I don't care about Sasuke right now Kakashi. Where is Naruto?"

"When I arrived at the Valley of the End, there was no sign of Naruto Uzumaki, only the smell of his blood all around the valley."

Tsunade's eyes widened. She signaled for her ANBU who appeared behind her. "Gather all off-duty ANBU and head to the Valley of the End and search for any signs of Naruto Uzumaki."

"Hai!" The ANBU disappeared in a swirl of leaves.

**Two weeks later, somewhere in the Land of Fire**

Naruto awoke to find he was in a place unknown to him. He was definitely not at the Valley of the End anymore, that was for certain. When he tried to sit up, a sharp pain shot through his body and he fell back down onto the bed. _'Where am I?'_ he thought as he looked around the room. He saw that he wasn't in a hospital. This place looked like someone's bedroom. Naruto sighed in realization that he had failed his mission to bring back Sasuke.

"Oh, so you're awake already. I figured you'd still be out for a few more days at least, with injuries that serious."

Naruto looked to see an old man walk into the room. The old man had a medium length gray beard and long spiky gray hair. He had never seen this man before in his life. Naruto saw something odd, though: the old man's eyes were closed.

"Where am I? The last thing I remember was fighting, and then everything went black."

"Yes, it was quite the interesting fight you had with that other boy," The man said, stroking his beard.

"Why am I here? Better yet, where am I?"

"You are currently in my home. I was intrigued by your actions so I brought you with me. Why would you intentionally miss that other boy, and only scratch his forehead protector?"

Naruto tried to move to a sitting up position, but failed. The old man, seeing that he was having a great deal of trouble, helped Naruto up.

"Why should I tell you?" Naruto asked suspicious of the old man standing before him. He then noticed his head felt a little lighter. "Where's my forehead protector?" Naruto asked touching the place where it had been.

"I'm just a simple old man who lives alone in this house. The least you could do is humor me by answering my rather simple question. And your forehead protector fell into the river."

Naruto had a feeling that was a complete lie. Well, at least him being a simple old man. Naruto sighed and decided to answer the old man's question. "Sasuke was my friend. You could say he was my best friend. Sure, neither of us got along at all, but we had a mutual understanding. Well at least I thought we did. When it came time to make the decision, I just couldn't go through with it."

"Interesting. However, why would you not try to kill him when he was most certainly trying to kill you?"

"I promised someone I would bring him back to the village."

"So you're a man of your word then?"

"I always keep my promises, no matter what. Although, I guess I broke this one by not bringing him back to the village."

"No, not broken. Not yet, at least. The boy you fought is still out there. You can still keep your promise. The boy you fought, in the end, had the chance to kill you before he left, but did not. There is still the chance he can be saved and be brought back as the friend you knew. However you will need to become much stronger than you are now to accomplish this, as I suspect the next time you two meet, he will be much stronger."

"How? How can I become stronger?"

The old man smiled and stood up. "We will speak of that subject at a later time once you've rested a little more and had time to think." The old man walked towards the door. He stopped, however, when his hand reached the door. "What is your name, young one?"

"Naruto. Naruto Uzumaki. What's your name, old man?"

"You will find out soon enough. But now is not that time. For now just call me old man." The elderly man left the room, closing the door, allowing Naruto time to rest.

Naruto sank back down on the bed till he was in a lying position. The Kyuubi seemed to be growling behind his cage. Did that mean this man was good? Naruto really didn't know, but to him, the old man seemed like a good person. Naruto was also intrigued by the old man, since he seemed to be able to see without even opening his eyes.

**In the Leaf Village**

Tsunade sat at her desk, looking at a piece of paper. All the piece of paper required was her signature. The paper in her hands was a form that had Naruto's information on it; one part of it stated his current state of well-being. That part had KIA checked off. Tsunade had been very reluctant to sign the form until Jiraiya had told her a little bit of information.

Jiraiya had talked with Tsunade earlier and told her Naruto's name had been crossed off the active summoners list. She knew what that meant, it meant Naruto was either dead, or behind some type of barrier that prevented any form of outside tracking. Barriers like that were few and far between and she didn't know of any in particular. Tsunade sighed and signed her name on the document. The ones who'd be hit hardest by this would be Naruto's friends.

The door to her office opened. Tsunade looked up to see Naruto's friends walk in, or at least the ones well enough to leave the hospital. she had yet to tell any of them anything. They were probably impatient and wanted news. They all stood awaiting Tsunade to say something.

"I'm sorry but I don't have any good news for you." Tsunade pulled out Naruto's forehead protector and put it on her desk. "That's it. That's all that's been recovered." Tsunade wasn't going to sugar coat anything. There truly was no reason to. They were ninja, and they would lose friends eventually. That's just how things were.

Shikamaru scanned the Hokage's desk with a glance and saw the form with Naruto's name on it. "A little extreme to classify him as KIA, don't you think?"

"Naruto-kun's dead?" Hinata asked, her eyes widening, and her breathing becoming slightly labored. Tenten patted her on the back, trying to console her.

"To tell you the truth, I don't know. I never personally consider someone dead until I see a body. But everything that has been brought to my attention leads to the belief that Naruto has passed on."

"I hope you have more than just his headband to go on, Hokage-sama," Shikamaru stated.

Tsunade sighed; she figured this would happen sooner or later. "You've all seen a summoning contract scroll before, at least in a picture, correct?" They all nodded. "Well, a summoning contract scroll has the ability to know when a user has passed on. The fact is, Jiraiya came to me yesterday, telling me that the Toad scroll has marked Naruto off, meaning he is no longer among the living."

"Isn't there a way to fool that part of the scroll?" Shikamaru asked.

Tsunade nodded. "Yes, multiple ways, none of which Naruto could possibly know. There are very few people alive that could teach or perform said technique on Naruto. The only one I know of is Jiraiya." Tsunade sighed. "The chances of Naruto being alive, knowing this, are slim to none. But if he is alive, I want him to return of his own free will, not because I had him hunted down by ANBU." Tsunade was almost a hundred percent sure Naruto was dead, but like she said if a body wasn't found there was always a chance. Also, saying that to his friend would at least give them that small ray of hope that he was still alive.

"So marking him off as KIA does that if he is indeed still alive?" Shino asked, thinking about what Tsunade had said.

"Again, like I said, the chances of Naruto being alive are very small, and, again, I never consider someone dead until I see a body, which we haven't found." Tsunade looked at Sakura, who had a dead look in her eyes. Sakura seemed to take the news far harder than anyone in the room. However, from the look in Hinata's eyes she wasn't exactly far behind. "Ino, could you take Sakura home? I think she needs a little more time to process all this."

Ino nodded. "Come on, Sakura. Let's get you home." Sakura didn't reply. She just let Ino guide her out of the room. The news had hit her very hard.

Tenten looked at her teammate's cousin. Hinata looked lost, and not sure what she was going to do. "When will the funeral be held?" she asked, getting Hinata to look up.

Tsunade looked at her papers trying not to make eye contact. "The funeral will be held in a few days, when the others will at least be well enough to be allowed out of the hospital for a short time. Now, if you three would leave, I'd like to be alone for a little while."

Shino, Tenten and Shikamaru nodded, and left the room with Hinata.

Once they were gone Tsunade decided it was time to call out the one who had been listening in on the conversation. "Come out, Gaara. I know you're there." Gaara appeared in front of Tsunade's desk in a swirl of sand. "I take it you heard everything?" He only nodded. "Will you be staying for the funeral?"

"Yes, I'll be staying for the funeral. Suna won't fall apart in just one more week." Gaara said a week because it would be a few days till the funeral, then it would take him another three days to get back to Suna.

"Naruto really changed you, didn't he Gaara?"

"Naruto Uzumaki showed me that there was still light at the end of the tunnel for me. The least I can do is pay my respects at his funeral." Gaara made his way to the front door of Tsunade's office. Just as he was about to leave, he spoke once more. "If any Suna ninja finds one Sasuke Uchiha, he will be dispatched with extreme prejudice. His Kekkei Genkai will be incinerated, and his body left to rot." Gaara opened the door and left.

….

Shikamaru had just parted ways with Shino, Hinata and Tenten. He had asked if Tenten needed help with Hinata, but she declined, saying she could handle this. Shikamaru never in his wildest imagination thought Naruto would die. He had beaten Gaara of the Desert and Neji. It just didn't add up how Sasuke had beaten and killed him. He knew the Hokage had said something about him being alive. He however knew that was just something she had said so he and the rest of Naruto's friends at least had some hope he was still alive.

"Yo lazy." Shikamaru turned to see Temari. "Wow, you look like the world just crashed down around you," she said, getting a look at his down trodden face.

"Do I really look that miserable?"

"Yeah, you look like hell." Temari had a thought. "Come on. Let's get something to eat." Temari walked by and grabbed him by his vest as she did.

Shikamaru didn't protest. He just allowed himself to basically be dragged by the rather _HOT_ Suna Kunoichi. Shikamaru hoped that Ino and Tenten were at least getting through to Sakura and Hinata.

….

"Come on, Hinata. At least take a bite out of it..." Tenten asked. Hinata was staring at a cinnamon bun, poking it with a fork. "What would Naruto want you to do?"

"I don't know," she began to speak. "I just don't know what do to right now. I mean... Well, I'm not sure what I mean..." A few tears fell on the cinnamon bun in front of her.

"Hinata do you really think Naruto would die that easily?" Tenten asked. "I mean he beat both Neji and Gaara in the same day. I'm pretty sure Naruto can survive one round with Sasuke." Tenten drank some of her tea. "I mean, really, Naruto is far too stubborn to die before he becomes Hokage. At least that's what he kept saying he was going to do." Tenten was putting on a face for Hinata, like everything would be alright. However, she, herself, truly didn't believe it either, but she needed to do something to turn Hinata's mood around even if just a little.

A small smile appeared on Hinata's face. Tenten was right. Naruto was just too stubborn to die. He was probably just off training somewhere and he would come home eventually. Well, at least that's what she wanted to believe. "You're right..."

"Of course I am! Tenten is always right!" she said, referring to herself in the third person. "Now eat your cinnamon bun. I didn't buy it for you just so you could waste it."

Hinata started to eat her treat that Tenten had bought her. Tenten's words had not stopped the dread in Hinata's heart, but they had at least lightened her mood for the time being.

….

Ino and Sakura had just arrived at Sakura's house. "Look, Sakura, we're at your house," Ino said, seeing if she could get a reaction. Ino got a small reaction from Sakura, but it wasn't much. Ino sighed and knocked on the door. Sakura had been a nervous wreck ever since Naruto and Sasuke didn't come back. Now that Naruto is marked officially as KIA, Sakura just lost it. Ino hoped her friend would recover.

As soon as the door opened, and Ino saw Sakura's mom, she told her everything that had happened.

Sakura's mom leaned down and hugged her daughter. "Thank you, Ino, for bringing her home."

"Of course. I'll be by later today and tomorrow to check on her."

"Thank you Ino."

Ino nodded and walked off. She wondered what the village would really be like without Naruto. He did bring a good deal of excitement, always overdoing it with his training, or acting like an idiot to lighten the mood when need be. This place would seem far more dull without him around.

….

Tsunade walked through the halls, the piece of paper she had signed earlier in hand. She had called a council meeting. Tsunade was really not looking forward to this, not one bit. She walked through the doors and into the council chambers.

"Why have you called a council meeting Tsunade?" Danzou asked.

Tsunade ignored his question and began to speak. "I have officially marked Naruto Uzumaki off as killed in action." There was a silence throughout the room.

"Why would any of us care?" Danzou asked arrogantly.

"Because he will be honored as a hero of the village. I just thought you would all like to know that."

"That demon brat, a hero? Never!" one of the civilian council shouted. Suddenly, his head smashed back against his chair.

"Did I say it was up for debate?" Tsunade asked. Tsunade had flicked a pebble at the man's head. "I told you all as a courtesy, nothing more. If you don't like it, you can take a flying leap off a mountain or something. Now, if you will excuse me, I have other things to attend to." Tsunade turned and left without another word.

Tsunade walked out of the Hokage's building. She actually didn't have anything else to do today. Tsunade seemed to just walk aimlessly through the village. She stopped however when she found herself in front of the home of her old teammate. She sighed as she walked up to the door. She knocked twice and waited. The door opened moments later. She didn't know why, but she just hugged Jiraiya and started crying.

Jiraiya put his arms around Tsunade and held her close. "I'm sorry." he really didn't know what to say to her other than that. "Come on inside, Tsunade. I'm sure you don't want everyone to see you bawling your eyes out." Jiraiya wasn't trying to be hard on her or anything. He just knew she wouldn't want to be seen in public like this. Jiraiya led her inside and closed the door behind him.

….

Hinata sat in front of the pond within the Hyuga estate, her head buried in her knees. She had finished eating with Tenten and had come home. Tenten's words had helped Hinata feel slightly better, but not much. She just sat here in front of the pond, staring at her own reflection. Hinata didn't know what else to do right now.

"You know, I came here quite often when your mother passed away."

Hinata didn't even look around; she just continued to stare at the water. "Does it ever get any better?" she asked her tone neutral.

"Unless you try to shut off your own emotions like many do, it won't. No, even then, the pain of loss will never dissipate completely." Hiashi thought about how often he used to come here. "I don't come here as often as I once did, but there are nights when I'll sit here for hours. I'll do absolutely nothing but sit here and stare at the moon on those nights." Hiashi walked over to some of the flowering plants his wife had planted many years ago. "I knew you had a crush on Naruto Uzumaki."

"Was it that obvious?" she asked.

"Indeed, it was. You wear your emotions on your sleeves, as they say. Your feelings for the boy were quite obvious. The only problem with you being so shy is that he would have never figured it out for himself. Naruto never knew the love of his parents, and didn't really know what love was. Unless you told him directly, he would have never known of your feelings. In that regard, you are the same as your mother. Like you, she was very shy at a young age."

"Why are you telling me these things?"

"I honestly don't know. Maybe it was seeing you there, reminding me of your mother, that brought this on." Hiashi turned and started walking away. "Dinner will be ready in a few hours. At least make an attempt to come. If not, I'll send dinner to your room." Hiashi wanted to say something to help, but he truly didn't know what to say. He could run a clan, but he was helpless to say something that would encourage his daughter. He was indeed a terrible father, and he knew it. He also knew, if Izumi was still alive, she would know what to say. She always did, no matter what the situation. As soon as Hiashi walked into the mansion, he saw his younger daughter Hanabi.

"Why is Neechan so sad?" Hanabi asked. "I mean, she never really talked to Naruto at all."

"Your sister was very fond of that boy. You could say she even loved that boy."

"But she never talked to him. How could she love him if she really didn't even know him?"

"Love can be a very complicated thing, Hanabi. Even I don't know how to explain why she fell in love with Naruto. Maybe once you're older, you might understand."

….

Ino sat in a chair beside Chouji's hospital bed. She was peeling a red apple. Chouji loved red apples, but hated the skin of the apple. Ino didn't find it weird that she was doing this, or even that she knew or remembered how he liked his red apples peeled.

"So, Naruto's funeral will be in a few days?" Chouji asked, his normal chipper tone replaced with a downtrodden one. That's how all of Naruto's friends were right now, as a matter of fact.

"Yeah, that's what Tsunade said to us a little while ago," Ino replied as she finished peeling the apple, and began to cut it into sections. "So, how much longer do they have you in here for?" Ino asked trying to change the subject.

"Another few weeks it seems. I guess I did quite a number on myself with those three pills."

"Damn right you did. I swear you can be such an idiot sometimes...I mean from what you used to say about those pills, I'm guessing they were never supposed to be used in rapid succession." Whether or not Ino would admit it, she was always worried about Chouji, as he could be quite reckless at times. The fact was, some would call that love. Ino, on the other hand, called it being a good friend. She was obviously in denial about her own feelings for her portly teammate.

"Yeah I know, but it's not like I had much of a choice at the time, Ino."

Ino handed him the plate of freshly sliced apple. "You're hopeless..."

Chouji looked at his blonde teammate. She looked very conflicted, not sure what emotion to show to him. That's what it looked like to Chouji, at least. He chuckled a bit, and started eating the apple. "Have you seen Shikamaru?"

"Yeah. He was there when Tsunade told us all the news. Not sure where he is now. I'm sure he's off somewhere, staring at the clouds or something."

….

"You seriously expect me to believe that the Uchiha prick that couldn't beat my little brother killed Naruto?" Temari asked.

Shikamaru and Temari were eating at the BBQ restaurant. Shikamaru had suggested to come here. The two had just finished eating.

"Look, I don't want to believe it either, but that's what everything leads to."

"If you don't want to believe it, then just don't. I mean, you said they never found a body or anything." Temari took a sip of her drink. "Chances are he's alive and well. That's at least what my brother is thinking right now. Now stop looking all pathetic. I hate pathetic guys."

"So you and your brothers will be staying for the funeral?" Shikamaru asked.

"Yeah. I'm sure Gaara has already adjusted his plans for it."

"I see. Well, I should get going. If I don't get home soon, my mom will become very troublesome."

Temari started laughing. "You still fear your mom?"

"You have no idea what type of hell she can cause if you don't do as she asks. Especially when it's something as simple as coming home at a certain time." Shikamaru got up from the table and put money down to pay for the meal.

"Now this, I gotta see." Temari got up and followed him.

**Somewhere in the Land of Fire**

Naruto awoke after a few hours of sleep. His body still hurt like hell, but he couldn't sit around in bed much longer. Naruto sat up with a groan as his body was wracked with pain. Naruto saw a pair of crutches sitting next to the bed. He figured the old man had left them there for him. Naruto grabbed the crutches and used them to get himself off the bed.

Naruto made his way out of the room. He couldn't remember ever being in pain for this long after getting beat up. "Damn fox is taking his sweet time healing me," he mumbled. Naruto had no idea where he was going. He was lucky the path he took through house led him to a door.

He opened the door to see he was in a small village. Naruto was unsure of how big it was, but if he had to guess it couldn't hold more than a few hundred people. He looked around to see the old man with a bunch of small children that looked to be around five or so years old.

"You want to see that trick again?" he asked them. All the children started acting excited. The old man clapped his hands together and trees sprouted from the ground and formed duplicates of all of them. The children cheered in excitement. "Now you all run along. I have things I need to do today." the wooden copies sank back into the ground. The children ran off to get back to their homes. "I see you're up and about, Naruto."

"I hate sitting around in bed."

"I see; that's another thing I like about you."

"And what do you mean see? You're looking in the opposite direction." The old man turned around. "And your eyes are still closed..." Naruto was a bit annoyed. "How exactly do you see me? Also, how did you do that?"

"One does not need to have their eyes open to see what is before them."

_'Well, that was a bit cryptic...'_ Naruto thought. "Well, anyhow, you still didn't answer my second question."

"Stay here and I will teach you how to do that and so much more."

"Why should I trust you?"

"Tell me, Naruto. What is the fox sealed inside you doing right now?"

Naruto's eyes widened. "How did you know?"

"If you stay, I can show you how to control him and his power. Now tell me, what is the fox doing right now? Is he growling at me and cursing my existence?"

"Well... now that you ask, that's exactly what he's doing. He's not using your name though."

"Sounds like him. To that old fox, my name is probably taboo." The old man walked up to Naruto. "So, child, what is your answer? Will you stay and allow me to train you, or will you leave and go back to your village?"

Naruto looked around at the small village he was in and the people that walked by. "Could I have a few days to think about that?"

"Very well. Take all the time you need. Now, come with me. You must be starving by now." the old man motioned Naruto to come inside his home.

Naruto's stomach growled, as if on cue. Naruto followed the old man inside. He didn't know what his decision would be, but if the old man could do what he claimed, it would be more than worthwhile to stay just for that.

* * *

A/N So whatcha think?

This story has been one I've wanted to write, so the other day I finally sat down and wrote it.

Can anyone guess who the old man is?

Please review.


	2. Coping

**Chapter 2**

Coping

Hinata lay asleep in her bed, tears staining her pale cheeks as she clutched a large fox plushy. The fox plushy was about the same size as her. She had won it at last year's Kyuubi festival. The stuffed animal reminded her of Naruto. How exactly? A few years ago, she had overheard her father and the third Hokage talking about Naruto's condition. They'd never said he held the fox aloud, but from what they said, she only had to put two and two together to figure it out.

Last night, once Hinata had gotten back to her room, she cried herself to sleep, clutching the over-sized stuffed animal. All day yesterday, she, for the most part, held her emotions back like a _good_ Hyuga should. However, once she got back to her room, she let it all out. Hinata finally woke up when someone knocked on her bedroom door.

"Neechan, it's time for breakfast."

"Go away Hanabi. I'm not hungry," Hinata replied to her baby sister.

"But..."

"I said go away!" Hinata yelled.

Outside of Hinata's room Hanabi stood at the door. Hinata had never yelled at her before, not for anything.

"I told you your sister would not leave her room."

Hanabi turned around to see her father standing almost directly behind her. "She yelled at me..."

Hiashi sighed. He really wasn't sure what to say to her. _'That's the way things are'_ just didn't sound right. "Come, Hanabi. Breakfast is about to be served." The only thing Hiashi knew to do right now was to give Hinata space. Hiashi knew his daughter would sort things out herself. If she could take the amount of abuse she has over the years from her family, she could deal with this. That was at least what he thought.

Hanabi and Hiashi made their way to the dining room. The food was being brought out just as they were about to sit down. The elders were all seated at the large table. There were three spots at the head of the table open. Those spots were reserved for the head of the family and his daughters. The fact was, the elders never ate breakfast with the head of the family. That was unless they wanted to speak to him about something important. Hiashi had a feeling for once in a great many years he would lose his temper.

"Hanabi, eat in the other room. It seems the elders have something to talk to me about."

"Yes, Father," Hanabi replied. She answered without question because she knew she didn't have a choice in the matter. Hanabi grabbed her plate and walked into the other room.

Hiashi sat down at in his seat at the head of the table. "Now, tell me, why are you all here?" Hiashi noticed several elders were eating while a majority weren't. From that he could tell a majority were wanting to talk while the others were just there because they had to be. Hiashi picked up his cup of tea and took a sip.

One of the elders cleared his throat before speaking. "We have come here to talk about your eldest daughter."

"Alright, what about her?" Hiashi asked calmly.

"The majority of us find her current state unacceptable and unfitting of an heiress of the Hyuga clan."

Hiashi remained silent, his grip on the tea cup tightening.

"We also believe her crush on the now deceased Naruto Uzumaki to be completely unacceptable. The fact that she had fallen for that cursed child means she is not suited for being a leader of this clan. Also, her timid nature..."

The tea cup shattered in Hiashi's hand and the entire room instantly stopped whatever they were doing or saying. Hiashi slowly removed the pieces of cup off himself and onto the table while wiping up the mess. The elders all remained unmoving and silent as he did this. Hiashi glared at the man named Toshi, who had been speaking.

"The majority of you in this room that are with Toshi are a disgrace to this clan. My daughter is who she is, or more so who we made her by doing nothing but berating her for not being the best at everything. _None_ of you will speak of her as if she is a lower creature because of it." Hiashi's voice began to grow louder as he talked. "My eldest daughter is not subject to your rules, but mine alone. My daughter will like who she wishes and date who she wants regardless of your opinion of them. Of course, that's as long as I approve of them. Now if you speak ill of Naruto Uzumaki again, I will inform Tsunade Senju and let her do as she pleases. He is a hero of this village, who was instrumental in our fight not long ago during the Chuunin exams. Tomorrow he will be honored as such at his funeral. All of you disgrace yourselves and our clan for speaking about one who gave everything for this village and never asked for anything other then some respect in return. Also, if you refer to him as a 'cursed child' again, I will crush you. This will be the only warning I will be giving you. Am I understood?" Hiashi received no reply. "Good. Now get out of my sight."

The majority of the elders left. They were all shocked at Hiashi's outburst. The last time he raised his voice like that and lost his temper was when his wife had died.

A branch member walked into the room just as the elders exited.

"Hiashi-sama, Neji's teammate, Tenten, has just arrived at the compound."

"Very well. Have her wait in my study. I'll be there shortly."

"As you wish." The branch member exited the room.

"If you will excuse me." The remaining elders nodded. Hiashi stood up and walked out of the room. In the next room, he saw his youngest daughter eating. "Hanabi, if you wish to eavesdrop, try to do so without being noticed," Hiashi said as he walked by her.

Hanabi's face reddened a little. The fact was, she _had_ been eavesdropping. She had only just gone back to her food once the talking was over. Even without his Byakugan activated, her father had noticed her.

Hiashi walked swiftly down the hallway towards his office. He was sure Tenten was already waiting for him. He walked into to his office to see Tenten was indeed already there. Hiashi said nothing as he made his way to his desk. "Now, Tenten, why exactly are you here this early in the morning?"

"I just thought you'd like to know that Neji will be let out of the hospital soon."

"Excellent." He was glad his nephew would be getting out of the hospital soon. Out of the three that were hospitalized, he and Chouji had been the worst off. "I take it you've told him the current state of things?"

"I have," she replied. "How's Hinata doing today?" Tenten was quite concerned about Hinata, as she wasn't exactly taking it well yesterday.

"My eldest daughter has currently locked herself inside of her room. I honestly don't know what to do other then let her have the time alone. Izumi was always the one who knew what to say during times like this." Hiashi talked causally with Tenten, which was unlike him.

"Well, she'll come out when she's ready, I'm sure," Tenten replied. "I'll take my leave. I'm supposed to get Neji some food, seeing as the hospital food will probably kill him." Tenten was, of course using that as an excuse to bring Neji food. Tenten then stood up, bowed, and walked out of the room.

Hiashi leaned back in his chair and stared up at the ceiling, a multitude of thoughts rushing through his mind. "Tomorrow certainly isn't going to be any better than today," he mumbled to himself.

….

Kakashi Hatake was currently entering his second bar of the day. You would think it would only be his first, considering what time of the day it was. However, ever since Naruto was classified as KIA, he had gone drinking. Even before Naruto was put on the list of Killed In Action, he had been doing light drinking and completely neglecting his duties. Currently, though, he was just getting completely hammered.

Kakashi had just sat down after getting a bottle of sake from the bartender. "Here's to another failure," he said, chugging half the bottle in one go. Kakashi was in the west side of Konoha, where the really crummy bars were located. Of course, he didn't care about that at all right now. "Another toast to my latest batch of failures," he said aloud, chugging the rest of the bottle.

"Kami, you look like hell, Kakashi."

Kakashi looked up to see Kurenai Yuhi standing in front of him. "Well, well, if it isn't the extremely sexy Kurenai Yuhi. Come, sit, have a drink with me," he said, pointing to the chair.

"Sorry, Kakashi, but I'm here to get you home."

"Now why would you want to do that?" Kakashi asked as he looked into the sake bottle, seeing if there was anything left to drink. Kakashi threw the sake bottle behind him once he realized there was nothing left to drink in it.

"Because I was the one who drew the short straw and was assigned to drag your drunken ass back home, that's why." The fact was, she volunteered to go, instead of sending a squad after him. She figured she could get him home without starting a fight with him, like the last time something like this happened.

"Ooooohhhh is that all?" he asked. "I'm surprised they didn't send an ANBU squad like last time." Kakashi was referring to the day after the Kyuubi attack thirteen years ago, when he went on a similar drinking marathon.

"Yes, well, we figured if we sent one person, we could convince you to go back home without starting a fight and destroying the bar this time."

"Alright I'll go home quietly, but you have to have a drink with me first." Kakashi just didn't care enough to start a fight over the whole thing. Last time, he was younger and allowed his temper and depression to get the best of him, so he started a fight with the ones who tried to get him home the last time.

"So, one drink and you'll go home quietly?"

"Well, you'll have to escort me of course. You know don't want me to just hit another bar on the way home and all." The amount of alcohol was obviously effecting him right now, as he normally never acted this way.

Kurenai sighed. "Fine, as long as you keep your word."

"Of course, of course, it's not everyday someone gets to have a drink with the Genjutsu Mistress of Konoha."

Kurenai sat down and raised her hand, telling the bar tender to bring them each a drink. The two quickly drank the alcohol and left. Kakashi did exactly what he had said. One drink, and they were out of the bar. The two walked down the street, neither of them saying anything. Soon enough, they arrived at Kakashi's house. About halfway home, Kakashi had about tripped on himself, so Kurenai had to help him the rest of the way. The two made their way inside of Kakashi's home, and Kurenai helped Kakashi onto the couch.

"Well, Kakashi, I guess I'll be going now," she said, turning away.

Kakashi grabbed her wrist gently. "Would you mind staying for a little while?" he asked. "Right now I could use the company."

Kurenai looked at him. Kakashi looked utterly pathetic. She found herself unable to say no to him right now. She sat down next to him on the couch.

"It's funny. Every time I try and get close to someone, they end up dying on me."

"That's not true, Kakashi. What about Gai, Asuma, and Iruka?"

"To be honest with you, I only know them because of my profession. I don't know them as well as you think. Why do you think I always ignore Gai? Other then the fact he's just weird." Kakashi decided, in his drunken state, to tell Kurenai about the people he actually had gotten close to. "I had finally gotten to like Obito, and even considered him my friend. About an hour after that, he died. Rin, my other teammate, I had finally opened up to and asked out on a date. We were supposed to have it after she came back from her mission. Well...she came back, just in a body bag. My sensei as well." Kakashi thought about that for a moment. "Well, he didn't die right after I got close to him, and I considered him a friend and father figure, but he died all the same. Even his son. I tried to not get close to Naruto in the beginning, but after the Chuunin exams, I made an attempt and his teammate decides to kill him. Sasuke probably killed him with the jutsu I taught him." Kakashi thought about what he had just said about Sasuke. "Is that some kind of irony?"

"Wait...Naruto is..." Everything Kakashi had said just left Kurenai's mind as she fixated on what he had said about Naruto's parentage.

"Yep...Naruto Namikaze. Do keep that to yourself until tomorrow. You know, Kurenai, I had always wanted to get to know you better, but like I said, everyone I get to know well tends to die. I'm just a cursed individual, that's all." Kakashi began to sway until he fell to the side his head landing on Kurenai's lap.

Kurenai looked down at the passed-out Jounin. She figured the alcohol finally hit home. Kurenai felt sorry for Kakashi. She really did. He'd gone through so much in his life. She had never seen him like this before. To her and the rest of the village, Kakashi was one of the very best. He had no weakness, at least that's how he was seen by most. However, right now that was certainly not the case. Kakashi was only human, and that was truly showing right now. _'I guess it wouldn't hurt to stay until he sobers up,'_ Kurenai thought. Kurenai ran her fingers through Kakashi's spiky hair.

….

Shikamaru sat at the table with his father. The two ate in silence. Temari had spent the night at the Nara estate when Shikamaru's mother insisted. The two of them hit it off right away. They were so alike, it was scary. It certainly scared Shikamaru and his father.

Shikaku put his fork down. "I admit, she's quite the looker, son. However, couldn't you have at least found someone that didn't act exactly like your mother?"

"What are you talking about? She just followed me home. We aren't going out. Not to mention, she's way more trouble then she's worth and she's just as bossy as mom," Shikamaru said in an annoyed tone.

_'He says that now, but that's exactly how it starts. It's always the bossy ones that we Nara men have to fall for. I mean, seriously, if we didn't, we'd probably die from starvation because we're too lazy to cook,' _Shikaku thought. He knew there would be a little difficulty dating a ninja from another nation, as it has only ended in disaster for people in the past.

Temari and Yoshino came into the room, giggling about something, most likely at Shikamaru's expense. Yoshino sat down at the table next to her husband, while Temari sat next to Shikamaru.

"Having fun, are we?" Shikamaru asked while sipping his tea.

"You have no idea," she replied. "You were a really cute kid."

Shikamaru glared at his mother. "Don't give me that look, Shikamaru. You could have actually made the attempt to stop me from showing her. What did you think all the laughing was about?"

"Embarrassing childhood stories," Temari chimed.

"It's official, I'm in hell," Shikamaru mumbled.

**With Naruto**

Naruto had finally woken up. "I wonder what time it is."

"It's noon," the old man said, appearing right beside the bed.

Naruto jumped out of bed, landing on his feet. He doubled over in pain seconds later. "What the hell is wrong with you, old man!" Naruto yelled as he stood back up.

"Well, last time I checked, I didn't find anything," he replied. "Anyhow, come, it's time to eat." the old man turned and walked out of the room.

Naruto grumbled as he made his way out of the room. "Damn old man, scaring me when I'm still half asleep..." Naruto walked into the dining room of the old man's house to find a woman that looked to be in her early twenties, sitting at the table with the old man. She had long, dark green hair and eyes of the same color. She was quite the looker."I thought you lived alone, old man," Naruto commented as he rubbed the sleep from his eyes.

"Oh, I do, it's just Asami here comes by from time to time to keep me company."

Naruto sighed as he sat down at the table. "So, old man, you ever going to open your eyes or tell me who you are?"

"All things come to those who wait Naruto."

"I'll take that as a no..." Naruto sighed again and ate the meal that was in front of him.

**Back in Konoha**

Ino walked down the street with Sakura. The two were walking to the hospital to pick up Chouji, as he had been cleared to leave for a few hours. Ino looked over at her friend. Sakura was...well, she had done a complete one-eighty from yesterday. Sakura seemed like a fully functional person instead of being completely unresponsive like she was yesterday. Pulling two extremes like that in the span of twenty four hours was, for the lack of a better word, unhealthy, and Ino knew it. She knew Sakura would be put under watch and taken off active duty until Inoichi cleared her. With all that in mind, Sakura would probably be off active duty for at least six months.

They arrived in front of the hospital and saw Chouji waiting in a wheelchair. The doctors probably didn't want Chouji walking yet. Ino had to admit, Chouji looked pretty thin, probably because he didn't get to eat as much as he wanted. Not to mention, hospital food was pretty bad. Ino walked into the hospital, got behind Chouji's wheelchair, and pushed it without saying a single word.

"Ino, I can do this myself."

"Shut up and just let me," Ino scolded. Ino felt rather worthless right now. She felt as if she couldn't do anything right because of recent events. "So where do you guys want to eat lunch?"

"I want BBQ," Chouji replied.

Ino, of course, knew that's what he was going to say.

"That sounds good," Sakura replied.

Chouji had heard of how Sakura reacted yesterday. He turned his head and looked at Ino, asking an unspoken question. Ino understood what he was asking and shook her head. The unspoken question was 'is Sakura alright?' Ino, of course, answered by shaking her head, saying 'no', she wasn't alright. Ino pushed Chouji slowly to their destination. Almost half an hour passed by the time they arrived at the BBQ restaurant. They walked in to see Shikamaru and the sand Kunoichi, Temari sitting at a table.

Shikamaru noticed Ino, Sakura, and Chouji coming up to the table. "Hey, Chouji, how are you feeling?" Shikamaru asked.

"Hungry," he replied simply.

"Well, you do look pretty thin," he said looking at how thin his friend was.

Ino pulled Chouji up to the side of the table, while she and Sakura sat down on the other side of the booth from Temari and Shikamaru.

"So...what's she doing here?" Ino asked.

"She won't stop following me," Shikamaru replied in an annoyed tone.

"I've got nothing better to do right now than annoy your lazy ass," she retorted. "Not to mention, you probably like the attention from someone like myself."

Shikamaru grumbled in annoyance. He was a verbal punching bag during breakfast this morning at his home.

"So, where's Hinata?" Ino asked.

"Temari and I ran into Tenten a little earlier. She told us Hinata had locked herself in her room, but that was this morning."

"Oh...I see." Ino replied.

….

Hinata sat in Neji's hospital room, after she had finally decided to leave her room. Tenten had left shortly before she had arrived. Nothing had been said between the two cousins since Hinata had arrived.

Neji looked over at Hinata who just looked plain lost. "Do you really think he's dead Hinata?" What Neji had said grabbed Hinata's attention. "Naruto beat both myself and Gaara in the same day. Do you really think Sasuke, of all people, could have killed him when Gaara and I couldn't?" Neji's tone was dead serious. He believed Naruto was still alive, as his mind couldn't understand how Sasuke could have killed Naruto. "Tell me, Hinata."

Hinata couldn't meet his gaze. She just stared at the floor. "I don't know..."

"If you don't know, then just don't believe he's dead. Just believe he will come back someday once he's ready."

"But Tsunade said..."

"She said they couldn't find a body." Neji sighed. "Hinata, you told me once you believed in Naruto. Just believe in him now."

Hinata looked into Neji's eyes. She saw no hesitation in them. He truly believed that Naruto was still alive. "I want to believe that Naruto's still alive," she mumbled.

"Then 'believe it', as Naruto would say."

Hinata smiled a bit. She wasn't sure if Neji was right or not, but she really wanted to believe Naruto was still alive, and she was grateful for his words.

The door to the hospital room opened, and Tenten walked in with a late lunch for both Neji and herself. She walked over and set down the food on the table, not even noticing Hinata was in the room. Tenten looked over, finally noticing Hinata's presence in the room. "Oh, Hinata! I didn't realize you were here. I thought you were still locked in your room. Feeling better now, I take it?"

"Yes, thank you," she replied.

"Well, you might as well eat with us. I brought more than enough for three people." Tenten handed Hinata and Neji some food.

The trio sat in silence as they ate the lunch Tenten had brought.

….

Tsunade had just recently arrived in her office. She noticed Shizune was kind enough to take care of things until she arrived today, she had spent last night at Jiraiya's place. Tsunade was honestly amazed he hadn't tried to take advantage of her last night. Speaking of Jiraiya, he currently sat onw one of the many window sills in the Hokage's office, just staring out over the village. He truly looked miserable right now. Well, both of them were quite miserable. Tsunade looked up at the clock. It was already two in the afternoon. Tsunade stood up from the chair and walked over to the window Jiraiya was at.

"It seems it's rather mixed on how well Naruto's friends are taking this all," Jiraiya finally spoke.

"Yeah, some are of the opinion he's still alive, while some are sure he's dead, and the rest just don't know what to think. I'm sure Sakura thinks Naruto's dead, from her reaction yesterday. I think Hinata's on the fence about what she believes. I doubt either Neji or Gaara think he's dead. The others, I'm not really all that sure about." Just then, they saw a good amount of Naruto's friends walking down the street. Tsunade payed special attention to Sakura's state. "It seems Sakura pulled a one eighty from yesterday."

"Well, right now, she doesn't have a team so you can have her see Inoichi until he clears her for active duty," Jiraiya stated. "Not to mention, you should train her, Hinata, and Ino to be medics. I mean, that would probably be the wisest course of action right now."

Tsunade sighed sitting down next to Jiraiya. "You're probably right."

"He was so young..." Jiraiya said suddenly. Then he put his arm around her waist, pulling her closer.

"I know...far younger than both his parents." Tsunade had said she didn't believe anyone to be dead until she saw a body. However, that was only for the sake of Naruto's friends. She and Jiraiya were veterans. They had lost more then their fair share of friends over the years and it was much easier for them to accept that someone was dead. Now, just because they had gone through it so many times, didn't mean it was any easier for them to deal with.

The two sat there in complete silence.

….

Kiba and Shino were walking down the street. The mood of the village right now seemed rather depressing. Kiba had just been let out of the hospital this morning and had spent most of his day at his clan's compound. He had only left about thirty minutes ago to meet up with Shino.

"So, how was Hinata last time you saw her?" Kiba asked, concerned about his teammate.

"Last time I saw her, she wasn't taking it too badly," Shino replied. "I honestly have my doubts he's dead."

"If the Hokage says he's dead, he's dead. I'm not going to keep myself up at night wondering," Kiba stated. What Kiba said was rather cold-hearted, but that's just how he was raised. Kiba had actually grown to like Naruto more after he lost to him in the prelims, albeit it was a rather odd method. The fact that Naruto beat Neji in the third part of the exams meant Kiba just didn't stand a chance, and in Kiba's family, strength was respected.

"I'll be going now Kiba. I need time to think about things."

"Yeah, same here Shino. I'll see you whenever."

The two members of team eight parted ways and headed towards their homes.

**With Naruto**

Naruto sat with the old man on the front porch of the old man's home. He hadn't noticed before, but the house was up on a small hill making it higher than the other buildings.

"You were saying yesterday about making a promise to someone. May I ask who that person was?" the old man suddenly spoke.

"Her name was Sakura. She was on my Gennin team," Naruto replied.

"Oh, a girl I see. Did you have feelings for this girl?"

"I thought I did. I wasn't sure what those feelings really were. Well...I'm still not sure what those feelings were. I just know she would never love me. I finally understood that when she begged me to bring Sasuke back."

"I see."

"So, did Asami leave?" Naruto asked.

"She did. Asami comes around every so often to check up on me. Of course, the children of this small village come around often and ask me to do tricks."

"Yeah, that thing you did yesterday." Naruto was truly curious as to how the old man did that. That reason among others was what was keeping him around. Naruto really wanted to know how and why.

"I do that and many more things. I'm sure if you stick around you'll see what those things are. So, Naruto what will you do if you ever see Sasuke again?"

Naruto looked down at the ground in front of him. "I don't know. Right now I just don't know what I'll do. He tried to kill me, he really did. But I've never broken a promise before."

"Then don't. Be a man of your word to the very end."

"Why should I trust you old man?"

The old man thought about that for a moment before responding. "Hmm...now that I think about it, I guess there is no reason you should trust me. However, if I was going to try something, I would have done it long before now. Then again it's really up to you to decide what you wish to believe."

"I really don't know what to believe anymore."

"I suppose that's understandable."

The two sat in silence as they watched the families in the small village go about their daily lives. Naruto couldn't help but wonder what it was like to have a family. He had never really had one himself, so he had always been curious about what it was like. The old man sensed Naruto's longing for what he was seeing in the village before them.

"Let me ask you, Naruto. Is there anyone back where you live that would miss you?"

"What do you mean?" Naruto asked.

"If they thought you were dead, would you be missed?"

Naruto had to think about that for a moment. Naruto thought that question was odd, but answered it anyhow. "Well, I guess there would be a few people who would miss me. I mean, there probably wouldn't be a huge turnout at my funeral if that's what your asking.

The old man stood up. "Well then, let's go."

Naruto cocked an eyebrow. "What do you mean, 'let's go'?"

The old man smiled. "Why, to see your funeral, of course!"

* * *

A/N So whatcha think?

I hope I didn't mess up too badly on this chapter.

Please review.

Btw it was really cool so many actually reviewed the last chapter.


	3. One Can't be Late for Their Own Funeral

Sorry about this everyone. Nothing was posting last night so I decided even if the chapter actually became available I'd be deleting the current chapter and reposting it.

**Chapter 3**

One Can't be Late for Their Own Funeral

Massive, black, almost unnatural-looking clouds hung over the village. However, that fit the current mood of the village. The sky looked as if it was about to unleash down pour on the Village Hidden in the Leaves.

Hinata was getting ready for the funeral. She looked across the room at some of the pictures on her desk. One in particular caught her attention. The picture had the three rookie teams in it. Kurenai, her sensei, had made her stand next to Naruto. You could tell from the picture that she was blushing hard. Kiba didn't make it any easier, as he suggested to Naruto that he should put his arm around Hinata and make the peace sign. Of course, Naruto didn't see that as odd in anyway and did just that. Hinata had nearly fainted from that, but she used all the self-control she had to keep herself awake.

Hinata looked at how everyone else was positioned in the picture. She stood next to Naruto. On the other side of Naruto was Sasuke, then Sakura and Kakashi were standing behind them. Next came Team Eight, then Team Ten. Hinata had been the only one not with her team in the picture. Hinata smiled, Naruto had a big goofy smile on his face.

Hinata heard a knock at her door and put the picture down. She walked to the door and opened it to see her sister standing there in her funeral clothes. Hanabi had told her about how their father had told off the elders. However, Hanabi never told her what Hiashi had said or what the discussion was about.

"Hanabi...why are you wearing your funeral clothes?"

"Everyone is!" Hanabi replied.

Hinata stuck her head out of the doorway of her room to see everyone was wearing their funeral clothes. She didn't quite understand what exactly was going on.

"Father says you can go on ahead if you like," Hanabi stated.

"Oh...umm...alright," she replied. Hinata wasn't sure what was going on, as her father hadn't spoken to her since the other day. "Well, I'll be going then," Hinata said, as she was supposed to meet everyone else and head to the funeral. Hinata left her sister and walked down the hallway to find Neji and Tenten waiting for her.

"Ready to go, Hinata?" Tenten asked.

"I guess so," she replied. None of them were really ready to attend Naruto's funeral. Even if they didn't truly think he was dead, there was still that small part of them that believed it.

….

Shikamaru sat on one of the several stools at Ichiraku's. Temari sat next to him. The two were waiting for everyone else. Shikamaru looked to the Suna kunoichi that sat beside him. Temari looked slightly depressed. He couldn't blame her, as today was really depressing. Ayame and Teuchi were wearing black for the funeral. They were in the back just cleaning things up. They didn't plan on cooking or selling any ramen today.

"So, where are your brothers?" Shikamaru asked.

"They should be here soon enough. I'm sure Gaara wouldn't miss something like this," she replied. "So many people are dressed in black..." she observed.

Shikamaru looked around. "Yeah. I wasn't expecting anyone to really care about the funeral, but in this instance, it seems I'm wrong." Shikamaru was surprised to see everyone dressed in their funeral attire.

"Well, this won't be the last time you're wrong about something," she replied.

"Probably," he replied with a shrug of his shoulders.

Temari and Shikamaru noticed Ino, Chouji, Kiba, Sakura, and Shino walking up to them.

"You guys notice everyone's wearing black?" Shikamaru asked.

"Yeah. Anyone else find it odd?" Kiba asked.

"Agreed. I find it weird they all suddenly care about Naruto's death," Shino said adding to the conversation.

"Why would you find it weird?" a voice asked from behind them.

Everyone turned to see Gaara and Kankuro walking up.

"What do you mean?" Shino asked.

"Naruto has done many things in such a short time," Gaara began. "He has fought with Zabuza Momochi and survived. During the exams he fought me and won. And from what I hear, after that, he faced Orochimaru and Kabuto when searching for Tsunade Senju. And on his last mission, he went to bring back one Sasuke Uchiha, who left without permission. Naruto is a hero of this village, who gave everything for it, and these people seem to finally realize that. However, they are a tad too late, as they should have realized it before now."

Everyone silently agreed with what Gaara had said. Sure, none of them had been the greatest of friends to Naruto over the years. However, they all had at least acknowledged him as a person and for his skills as a shinobi, no matter how odd or unorthodox he was at times. The last of Naruto's friends had arrived, meaning Hinata, Neji, Tenten, and Lee.

"Looks like everyone's here," Shikamaru stated.

"We'll be off," Teuchi said. Teuchi and Ayame were both saddened by the news of Naruto's death. He was their favorite customer. Naruto was always so bright and full of energy when he came around to eat. Of course, with the news of his death, that bright light in their lives was gone.

"Well...we all might as well go too," Hinata said.

The Leaf Gennin, the Sand siblings, and the owner of Ichiraku and his daughter left and headed towards where the funeral would take place.

….

Naruto stood beside the old man on a roof top nearest to where the funeral proceedings were taking place. The old man had used some type of jutsu on Naruto to change his appearance. The jutsu wasn't like any normal transformation jutsu it actually changed Naruto instead of it being merely an illusion. Naruto was just watching what his friends were doing, which was staring at a picture of him. "So many people..." Naruto was stunned by how everyone had showed for his funeral. He wasn't just talking about his friends either. Naruto was talking about how it seemed like every villager and ninja currently inside of the village was wearing black and lining up on the roof tops and down in the roads below.

"Different from what you expected?" the old man asked.

"Very," was Naruto's reply.

"It's interesting isn't it?"

"What are you babbling about now old man?" Naruto was getting irritated with the old man. He would switch from cryptic to blunt and...well the guy was just weird.

"You always thought they hated you because they knew what was inside of you, but it seems they have more than enough respect to show up for your funeral. Maybe they realized you weren't the Kyuubi, but truly a hero, or they are just hoping that by this act, they won't be sent to hell for their own past transgressions."

Naruto looked around at the villagers standing near them it was like they didn't even hear anything that the old man had just said. Had the old man performed some sort of illusion? Naruto wasn't really sure. All he knew was the old man had done something. "I'd like to think people are better than that," Naruto replied. Naruto was referring to the last part of the old man's little rant.

"Yes, I suppose we all have that desire." The old man turned his head from side to side. "It seems like the funeral is about to begin. I suspect you will learn things about yourself soon that you never thought would be true."

Naruto looked at the old man, wondering what he meant by that. The old man obviously knew something but wasn't about to say what it was. Naruto's attention turned to Tsunade, who had begun to speak.

….

Tsunade looked around. She was pleasantly surprised by how many showed for Naruto's funeral. Just because he was being honored as a hero didn't mean anything to many people. The Hyuga, for instance, were rather prideful and stuck up at times. She really hadn't expected them to show for Naruto's funeral. Yet they had, like all the other clans.

Tsunade looked at Jiraiya, who stood beside her, then cleared her throat and began to speak. "First of all, I thank all of you for coming and showing your respect for my adopted grandson." Tsunade had actually filled out the papers just before he had left on his last mission. She was going to tell him once he got back. "I feel as if you should all know who his parents were. He was the son of Minato Namikaze. You knew him better as the Yellow Flash during the third great war and the Fourth Hokage."

There were audible gasps from all around and whispers amongst everyone.

Tsunade paid this no attention and kept speaking. "His mother was Kushina Uzumaki, better known to most as The Red Whirlwind." Tsunade was pleased by how many turned pale at the mention of Kushina's nickname since she had quite the temper at times. "Naruto never knew who his parents were, as that was the final request of his parents to keep him safe. He was to be told on his sixteenth birthday. However, that's not possible anymore. There is also one more bit of information you should all know even if many of you already do know it. Naruto was the container of the Kyuubi. The demon could not be killed. The only way to save the village was for Naruto's own father, the Fourth Hokage, to seal the beast within his son. Naruto was a hero of this village, yet many of you could only see the fox that had taken so many lives that night. All Naruto wanted to be was the Hokage of this village and to gain the respect of those within it." Tsunade paused for a moment as she was trying to hide her emotions.

Everyone in the different crowds be it on the streets or the roof tops were stunned by what was said. Many asked themselves the same question over and over. _'Would I be willing to do that to my own child?'_ None of them had an answer for that one simple question. There were only a few who knew the secret behind Naruto's heritage.

Kakashi stood there in silence, looking down. He knew he was one of the few who knew it all. Kurenai stood next to him. She had spent last night with him. She had just sat there on the couch trying to at least comfort the distraught Jounin. She couldn't just leave him.

Naruto's friends finally understood why he had always been singled out as a child. Although this news didn't really change their view of him. To them, Naruto was Naruto, a hyperactive blond that seemed to make the world brighter than it really was. Most of them were surprised at who Naruto's parents were. They never would have imagined those two were his parents. Shikamaru, on the other hand, wasn't very surprised by the news. He was always thinking about how Naruto and the Fourth Hokage looked so much alike.

Tsunade had recomposed herself and began to speak again. "Naruto was a hero of this village, not just for having the Kyuubi sealed within him, but for his actions during the crisis during the last Chuunin exams. He defeated Gaara of the Desert, who is soon to be Kazekage, a short distance outside of the village. Gaara is currently in attendance. Some of his other accomplishments were fighting with my former teammate and surviving, which many of you must realize is not easy. Also, he had to face Zabuza Momochi on his very first C-rank mission." Of course Naruto hadn't known that time in the woods it was in fact Orochimaru. "That's all I have to say. Please approach and say a few last words if you wish." Tsunade finished and walked off. She just couldn't stand there and speak without crying anymore. Jiraiya followed quickly after her.

Everyone began to line up at his picture.

Hinata happened to be the first one there. She was holding a white flower. "Naruto-kun, if you're still alive, please come home," she whispered before placing the flower in front of the picture and walking off.

Sakura was the next to step up to the picture. She stood there for a moment before saying anything. "I'm sorry, Naruto. I'm sorry about everything," she said, placing her flower down and leaving.

….

After hearing what Tsunade had said and some his friends' parting words, he walked off the roof, leaving the old man standing there. He needed time to think. Naruto found himself walking through the streets of Konoha heading towards his old apartment.

"You just going to mope for the rest of the day or what?" The old man asked appearing in front of Naruto.

"Why would he tell them to do that. I had the right to know," Naruto mumbled.

"Look at it this way. Your father was hated by at the very least two of the great shinobi villages. Before he died that night he gave an order. That order protected you from those who would want you dead because of who he was. There was nothing left he could do but that."

"They still could have told me. That's one of the only things I've ever wanted to know."

The old man sighed. "And at your age, you would have told people, and the secret would be out. They were smart in not telling you who either of your parents were. They would have had to keep ANBU guards on you at all times otherwise. That means a great deal of resources tied up just for a single child."

The two walked down the street in silence, listening to what other people were saying. Everyone was talking about the funeral and about Naruto. However, nothing they were saying was bad. Soon enough they arrived at Naruto's old apartment.

"Mind letting me be alone for a while?" Naruto asked.

"Very well," he replied, disappearing from sight.

Naruto sighed and walked up to his apartment door. He didn't need a key as he had rigged the door to unlock if you jiggled the handle a certain way. Of course, he always kept a key under the mat at the door just in case that didn't work. Naruto stood in the middle of his apartment. He had a feeling he was going to have to make his decision today about the old man's offer. There wasn't really anything in his apartment with any real value, only a few things with sentimental value. He went into his bedroom and looked at the two pictures next to his bedside on the counter. One picture was of Team Seven and the other was of the three rookie teams. He picked up the two pictures. These were really the only items that meant anything to him.

Naruto sat down on the bed and just stared at the picture. He wondered where everything went wrong.

….

Kakashi stood in front of the stone in training area seven. This was the stone his two old teammates' names were engraved on. The stone was reserved for those who had died in the service of the village. Tsunade had allowed Kakashi to be the one to put his student's name on the stone. Kakashi took out his kunai like he had twice before and carved the name into the stone.

Kurenai stood a few feet behind Kakashi and watched him slowly engrave the name on the black memorial stone. She thought it best not to leave Kakashi by himself right now. Kurenai wanted to say something to Kakashi, but couldn't think of anything that would make a difference. She watched as Kakashi finished engraving Naruto's family and given name. He just seemed to stand there, not moving at all. Kurenai walked up behind him and put a hand on his shoulder. "Kakashi, I think it would be best if we leave." Kurenai didn't want Kakashi to just stand here all day and stare at the stone.

"Just a little while longer..."

"Alright," she replied softly.

….

Sasuke stood atop the Hokage monument. Orochimaru had congratulated him on killing Naruto. Obviously this confused Sasuke to no end as he didn't kill Naruto. He talked with Orochimaru and for some reason the snake of a man agreed to take him to the village for the so-called funeral. He probably agreed because he knew the security in the village right now would be lax and very thin.

Sasuke knew Naruto wasn't dead, as he left him alive and breathing when he left. He thought back to the fight.

Images of his fight with Naruto flashed in his mind. Two images in particular got his interest. The image of when he told Naruto he wouldn't be able to put a scratch on his forehead protector and their final jutsu. He hadn't noticed before but at the last moment Naruto had disengaged his Rasengan to put a scratch on his forehead protector. Sasuke punched the stone in frustration. He thought he had won but in the end Naruto had won once again.

"Something wrong Sasuke-kun?" Orochimaru asked, appearing out of the ground.

"It's nothing. Naruto's not dead. Let's go."

"How can you be so sure?"

"Because I didn't kill him. He's still out there somewhere. I told you that already." Sasuke walked by Orochimaru and off into the trees.

Orochimaru smirked. "Is that so? Very well, we shall depart." Orochimaru followed after Sasuke, and the two disappeared from sight.

….

Tsunade had just arrived in her office with Jiraiya. Tsunade sat behind her desk, looking down at the paperwork in front of her. The room was silent for several minutes before either of them spoke.

"You gave Shizune the day off?" Jiraiya asked from his seat on the windowsill.

"Yeah. I didn't think she'd want to work today."

"You realize if Naruto really is dead, the fox will be revived eventually, and he will come here first. Not to mention, the other villages, like Kumo or Iwa, will take advantage of our lack of a Jinchuuriki long before the fox will be able to take physical form again."

"I know, I know," Tsunade replied. "What are we supposed to do though Jiraiya? With Orochimaru's little plan during the exams our forces are diminished. Everyone's pulling double and triple shifts just to keep up with the normal amounts of missions we did before that event. Even if they don't attack in three or four years we still won't be able to really stop them if they commit to a fight after that time. The best we can do is bluff them for now as long as we possibly can and pray they don't try anything." None of this had ever slipped her mind. She knew all to well what could possibly happen now that both Naruto and Sasuke were gone. Tsunade laid her head down on her desk. "What do I do Jiraiya? It's like when my little brother died."

Jiraiya appeared behind Tsunade and put a hand on her shoulder. "You came to me back then for support, and I'm still here. I'm not exactly sure why I stuck around over the years, but I did."

"I'm sorry. I should have..."

Jiraiya cut her off. "Tsunade, it's alright. If I was really angry over it, I would have left years ago."

"Answer me. What do we do now, Jiraiya?"

"Well, we get married and have a kid. I mean, it's not unheard of for people our age to have children," Jiraiya started to rant.

Tsunade smiled and laughed a bit. "That's not what I meant."

"Really? I thought it was a pretty good plan myself," Jiraiya replied sagely while nodding to himself.

"Thank you."

"Anytime," he replied.

….

It had been a few hours since the funeral had taken place. Hinata had walked around by herself since then and found herself nearing Naruto's apartment. She hadn't seen any of her friends since she left the funeral. Neji had wanted to follow her. However, Tenten had stopped him. Hinata felt completely lost right now. She didn't believe Naruto to be dead, but with the funeral, she couldn't help but feel a sense of dread that she'd never see him again. She sighed and looked up at Naruto's apartment. She had been here a few times before. Once was to actually confess to him. However, once she saw him, she just couldn't come out from behind the wall and tell him.

**Flashback**

Hinata had gotten up early today, in order to confess to Naruto that she liked him. She was currently hiding behind a wall, waiting for Naruto to come out. Hinata was currently contemplating how she was going to confess to him.

"What should I say?" she asked herself. "I love you, Naruto," she tried out. "No, no, that's too blunt..." she said, berating herself. "I really like you, Naruto." That didn't sound right either. "I only want to be your girlfriend!" Hinata sighed. That made her sound too desperate. She stood there, going over several more lines, but nothing seemed to sound right. Hinata heard the door unlock. She quickly turned the corner, but once she saw him standing there, yawning loudly, she lost all confidence in herself and quickly ducked behind the wall again.

_'I'll never be able to tell him at this rate...' _Hinata thought as she walked off, depressed that she couldn't work up the nerve to say something.

**End Flashback**

Hinata let out a depressed sigh, she may have lost her chance to tell him for good now.

….

Naruto's friends, save Hinata, were sitting in the BBQ restaurant, talking about past events. They had all arrived about an hour ago, and had just been sitting there, talking about Naruto's pranks and achievements.

"Hey, you guys remember when Naruto put graffiti on the stone faces of the Hokage?" Kiba asked.

"Yeah. I heard he outran a few Jounin when they were finally sent out to get him," Ino said, adding to the conversation.

"Yeah. I think Iruka-sensei was the one who actually caught him." Shikamaru said.

Chouji chuckled. "Yeah. Then Iruka made him clean it all off!"

They all started laughing.

"Yeah, Naruto was always pulling pranks like that," Kiba stated. "Paint bombs in the teachers' lounge, smoke bombs in the broom closets."

"Don't forget about the time he glued Iruka to his own chair!" Ino laughed.

"Oh yeah! That was a great one! He was so pissed that day!" Kiba chuckled.

Neji was growing impatient about Hinata being by herself. "I should go get Hinata. She should be here," Neji said, getting up.

"Sit down Neji, and leave the girl be," Tenten stated sternly.

Neji stopped and sat back down.

"Damn, Neji, you're whipped!" Kiba said, falling over laughing.

Everyone else started laughing at Neji's expense.

"So, Neji, how does it feel to be whipped by the girl sitting next to you?" Temari asked.

"I'm in hell..." he mumbled.

Shikamaru sipped his tea. "Welcome to the club, Neji."

"What was that Shikamaru?" Temari asked.

"Nothing," Shikamaru said quickly.

Everyone burst into laughter once more.

….

Naruto sat in his room, still staring at the picture in his hands. The technique the old man had put on him had worn off some time ago. Naruto hadn't seen the old man since he asked him to leave. Naruto finally started to move off the bed, picture in hand. He walked out of his bedroom to see the old man sitting on the couch.

"What's your answer, Naruto?" the old man asked. "I believe right here and now would be the best time to make your decision. So tell me, will you take me up on my offer?"

"I suppose I can't tell anyone I'm alive?"

"No. I like the fact that no one knows that I'm alive."

"Let me just grab a few items that I don't want to leave behind."

The old man stood up. "Very well. Take what you like. It's yours, after all."

….

Hinata still stood out on the street in front of Naruto's apartment. She slowly walked over to the apartment building and up the stairs. Once reaching the top of the stairs, she walked ever so slowly to the front door. She lifted up the mat and grabbed the key out from under it. As she was about to put the key in the door and walk in, she heard voices.

"_Is that really all you want to bring with you Naruto?"_

_'Naruto-kun?'_ Hinata thought. The concept that Naruto was on the other side of the door didn't even register to her.

"_Yeah. This is all that means anything to me."_

_'That's Naruto-kun's voice!'_

Hinata activated her eyes and got a rush of adrenaline as she saw, behind the door, the familiar form of Naruto. In her excitement, she noticed a small jar in his pocket; she recognized it as the one she gave him at the Chuunin exams. Hinata quickly turned the key and opened the door, but found no one inside the apartment. She searched everywhere within her field of vision, but, finding nothing, wondered if she'd been seeing things.

_'That was Naruto-kun's voice! I know it,'_ Hinata thought as she quickly looked for what he supposedly took with him. The only thing she could find that was obviously missing was a pair of pictures as she saw rectangular-shaped imprints on the counter where there was no dust. "I should tell someone!" she started to run out the door but stopped. There was really no evidence that he was actually alive, just some missing pictures. They'd all just look at her like she had gone crazy. Hinata took one last look around before leaving.

**At the old man's home**

Naruto put the few items he had taken with him on the shelf in his new room. He had accepted the old man's proposal. However, he still didn't know who the old man was.

"I hope the room isn't too small for you."

Naruto turned and saw the old man walking into the room. "No, it's fine. Alright, I think it's time you told me who you are old man. You sure as hell ain't normal. Even by ninja standards, you aren't normal."

The old man smiled and stroked his beard. "Very well, I suppose. You agreed to my proposal. I believe you have the right to know who I am."

"Alright, let's hear it you old coot," Naruto said, sounding very annoyed.

"You sound annoyed. I suppose after all that's happened, I won't fault you for it."

"And your beating around the bush isn't helping anything," Naruto replied.

The old man smiled and began to open his eyes, revealing several series of rings around the pupils of his eyes. "I'm the first ninja our world ever saw. I am the Rikudou Sennin."

* * *

A/N So, whatcha think?

Okay, I made it pretty obvious that it was the sage of six paths, or Rikudou Sennin.

I do hope that the chapter wasn't too boring or anything.

Some of you will obviously ask this one question. Will I do some chapters on Naruto's training? No. There will be flashbacks showing it occasionally, though.

Will Sasuke being there have an effect on him later on in the story? Perhaps.

In later chapters, how the sage is still alive will be explained, among other things.

I must apologize. Between mid terms and this research paper I have to do, I've had little time to write this or any of my other stories, and my free time shows no signs of improving. So with that in light chapters will come as my free time allows for all my stories.

Please review.


	4. The Passage of Time

**Chapter 4**

The Passage of Time

Tsunade sat at her desk, going over paper work. The past six months had been very hard on the leaf, as Kumo had been making advances just as she predicted. Iwa had not made a single move. However, the current Tsuchikage was a crafty old coot. If Kumo failed, he would most certainly take advantage and finish what they had started. She had gotten reports there were at least two teams of Kumo ninja inside their borders. Tsunade had, of course, sent out teams to find them. However, they hadn't found a thing. The two teams were lying in wait for something. She didn't know what, though, and that's what worried her most.

Tsunade sighed. She'd been working on paperwork for at least three hours straight now. There was just so much to do these days. More so than any time since Naruto's funeral. She opened the top right drawer of her desk. Inside were three pictures. One was the three rookie teams. She had gotten a copy from one of Naruto's friends. The second picture was of Naruto's friends currently. The picture itself was taken about a month ago. Everyone was a Jounin or ANBU now. They had all lost themselves in training and getting stronger since the funeral. From the lazy Shikamaru, to the sweet, ever so kind and lovable Hinata, who had always had confidence issues, they all improved remarkably fast.

"Three and a half years? Has it really been that long already?" Tsunade asked herself.

Tsunade held up the third picture, which was taken last week. The picture was of herself, her husband Jiraiya, (she still wasn't sure how that happened) and their little girl, who was a little over two years old now. Tsunade was honestly surprised when she found out she was pregnant. She figured after all the years of fighting and abuse to her body, she would have been incapable of having children. What is even more unbelievable was that she had Jiraiya's hair color. Thankfully, her hair style was like hers: straight.

Tsunade heard a knock at the door. "Come in," she called out.

Her daughter Kushina came bounding into the room, Shizune following close behind. Even though Kushina was so young, she was already very good at running. She quickly rounded the table and jumped on her mother.

"Mommy!" Kushina said happily.

Tsunade smiled and patted Kushina on the head. "Where's your father?"

Shizune coughed, grabbing Tsunade attention. "You sent him out last night, Tsunade, to gather some Intel. He should be back sometime today."

"Oh, right. I completely forgot I had sent him out to check on a few things."

"Mommy, done yet?" Kushina asked excitedly.

"Sorry, sweetie, Mommy isn't done yet," she replied.

"Lady Tsunade, I'm sure I can take care of the office for at least an hour while you take your daughter to the park or something," Shizune stated.

"Yay!" Kushina cheered. Tsunade stood up, picked her daughter up, and walked to the door of her office. "No!" Kushina yelled just as Tsunade got to the door.

"What is it?" she asked.

Kushina pointed to the open window. "That door!"

Tsunade sweat-dropped. While cute, that was definitely not a door. "Fine, we'll use that door." Tsunade walked to the window and jumped out, Kushina laughing joyously. _'Dammit, Jiraiya, we're going to have words about this,'_ she thought, seriously wondering if she was going to have to put him in the hospital for teaching their daughter bad habits again.

….

Hinata was just getting out of bed. She had just gotten back from a very tiring mission, and she needed sleep before she went back out on her newest assignment. Hinata was an ANBU now. She'd been one for over a year. She was the current team leader and tracker on her team. Hinata sat up in bed, yawning loudly. She didn't wear much to bed, only an over-sized t-shirt. The only reason she did was because she lived alone, in her own apartment. She had moved out of the Hyuga estate a little over two years ago.

Hinata, over the past three and a half years, had changed very little, other than how she looked, and had, for the most part, resolved her self-confidence issues. Hinata was described by many as a woman whose looks were only matched by her skills as a Leaf ninja. She had actually been courted by many nobles and higher-ranked ninja from the Leaf and other friendly nations. However, she turned them all down, and not very lightly sometimes. She was waiting for one man. However, said man had been considered dead for years.

Hinata finally decided to get out of bed after just sitting there for several minutes. She pulled off her shirt and walked into the bathroom to take a quick shower before she was supposed to meet her team and head out. Her mission was to locate and eliminate the two teams of Kumo ninja that were reported to have made it into the Land of Fire. They had been reported to have been close to a small town about fifteen miles from the village, but that was day old information.

Hinata turned on the water and merely stood there for a moment, letting the warm water wash over her. Hinata loved a good hot shower before a mission began, as she knew it was the only one she was going to get until it was over. Hinata ran her fingers through her long wet hair. Over the years, she had let it grow out. It was now down to her butt in length. Her long hair could be a hindrance at times, but she had come to really like it.

Hinata was finally finished with her shower. She quickly wrapped a towel around herself and walked out of the bathroom. She had laid out her ANBU gear before she went to bed, so it was ready when she awoke. The towel dropped to the floor and she quickly dressed. She was finally ready once she put her mask on and tied her ninjato to her back. Hinata disappeared from her apartment. Where did she go exactly? Well, the same place she always went before and after a mission: the memorial stone where Naruto's named had been carved.

Hinata appeared a short distance from the memorial stone. She saw Tsunade standing there, holding her daughter Kushina. Hinata removed her mask, even though it was against regulations. However every friendly and enemy nation knew who she was, mask or no mask, as the extremely long hair and color of said hair was a dead giveaway.

"Hina-chan here!" Kushina squealed in glee.

Tsunade turned around. "Well, Hinata, here again I see." Kushina was trying to squirm out of her mother's arms, so Tsunade just put her down.

Kushina ran over and hugged Hinata's leg. "You said you come to play!"

Hinata smiled and picked up Kushina. "I'm sorry. I've just been really busy these days. After this mission, I should have a few days off. How about then?"

"Promise?" she asked rather cutely.

"Of course I promise," Hinata said, giving the whited haired girl a kiss on the cheek.

Kushina giggled and hugged Hinata.

Tsunade stood and watched the two. She couldn't help but think how great a mother Hinata would be once she finally had children. Well, it was more of if she would ever have children. That meaning she had eyes for a single man, but he's been considered dead for almost half a decade. Tsunade needed to talk to Hinata before she left. However, she could wait.

**With Naruto**

Naruto was sitting under a waterfall, meditating. This was one of the many things he had to do daily for his training. Of course, Naruto mostly trained with shadow clones, as that had dramatically sped up his training. However, Naruto's training was not over as far as the old man was concerned. Naruto grumbled as he meditated. Almost four years have gone by and he his training was still incomplete. What exactly did the old man have left to teach him? He'd spent the past six months just honing his skills that he had learned from the old man. Of course that wasn't what was really making him a bit irritated. It was the fact that Kumo was making advances on Konoha and he could only watch from afar.

"Naruto, you're becoming irritated again. That doesn't exactly go well with meditating. Actually, it kinda defeats the purpose."

Naruto opened his right eye and saw Byakko laying down near the edge of the water fall. Byakko was a summoned white tiger. His kind was Naruto's new summoned creatures. Apparently the old man was the first one to create the contract with them, and Naruto was only the second to sign it. Byakko was the leader of the tiger summons. He, of course, shrunk himself down to a smaller size in order not to alarm anyone.

"Of course I'm irritated again. All I can do is watch while everything happens. Completed training or not I don't plan on sticking around much longer." Naruto stood up and out of the waterfall. His clothes were soaked, not that it mattered to him. Naruto walked over to the side of the waterfall where Byakko was laying at. There was a very familiar sword propped up against a tree.

"I've never asked this, but I find myself wondering. Why such an awkwardly large sword?" the large white tiger asked.

"I think the owner would have wanted me to have it," he replied.

"Who was the owner of such a sword?"

"His name was Zabuza Momochi. People called him Demon of the Hidden Mist. He wielded this sword like it weighed nothing to him. I still remember how he swung this sword as if it was a ninjato." Naruto sighed as he remembered that time. "We used it as his grave marker when he died." Naruto picked up the sword and strapped it to his back. "About two years ago or so, I asked the old man if we could go get it. He thought having a weapon was a good idea, so we went and got it. Of course I made sure to make a new marker."

"I see," Byakko replied. A cold wind suddenly swept by. "It seems there will be quite the storm tonight," Byakko stated as he looked up at the darkening sky.

"With the winter temperatures, the rain will be freezing."

"Indeed. I hope none of your friends get caught in that. Unlike you or me the freezing rain could kill them if out in the open too long."

"I suppose I should get some dry clothes now."

"Indeed. Your need to meditate with your clothes on and under the waterfall is quite odd."

"I just feel more comfortable in my clothes than just in my boxers."

Naruto's appearance and choice in clothes had changed over the years. He now wore mostly black. Black shirt, black ninja pants, and black sandals. He also wore a coat much like his father's, but it was black and had dark orange flames on it. The old sage had told Naruto that it's better to wear darker colors, as it would be harder for people to find him when he traveled at night. Of course, Naruto, being Naruto, couldn't wear just one solid color. He had to wear his favorite color, of course, which was orange.

"You are quite the oddity, my boy," Byakko said as the two walked off into the forest.

"Is that an insult or something?"

"Take it how you wish. I'm not in the mood to explain everything to you."

Naruto hated it when Byakko talked like he knew everything. It really annoyed him. Just then, in a cloud of smoke, a small white tiger cub landed on Naruto's head. Naruto grabbed the small tiger by the scruff of the neck and held him in front of his face. Before Naruto could say anything, however, the cub licked his nose. Naruto sighed. "Hiroki, how many times have I told you not to pop in on my head?"

"Yes, and how many times have I told you not to come from the summoning realm of your own accord?" Byakko asked his son.

The tiger cub smiled. "I can't count that high!" he replied in a happy tone.

"Your son's hopeless Byakko."

"One that is hopeless and older than he, shouldn't speak about him being hopeless."

"Your dad can be really mean, you know that?"

"Daddy is Daddy," Hiroki replied, licking Naruto's nose again.

Naruto and Byakko sweat dropped. The two didn't say another word. Naruto just put Hiroki back up on top of his head, and they continued walking.

….

The old sage sat in his home, sipping tea. He was quite bored, since Naruto went out this time everyday to train by himself. Naruto had surpassed his expectations, as he learned in three years what should have taken him fifty. Naruto had just been honing his skills for the past six months. However, his training wasn't complete. The only reason that was true was because he wasn't sure if Naruto was really ready for the last bits of his training.

"I'm back old man!" Naruto called out from the other room.

"That was a rather quick training session today," The old sage stated just as Naruto entered the room.

"Yeah."

The old sage finally noticed the small tiger cub on his apprentice's head. "So, Hiroki decided to pop in again?"

"Yeah. He wanted to play. Seems he managed to figure out how to use the seal you put on my arm." The seal on Naruto's arm was designed so that he wouldn't actually have to summon Byakko if he needed him. Byakko would in fact summon himself using the seal on Naruto's arm when he was needed. "Well, I'm going to get some dry clothes," Naruto said as he began to walk out of the room.

"You're going to leave aren't you?"

Naruto stopped in the doorway. "I can't just sit and watch any longer. I'd rather prevent a war from happening than watch it take place when I have the power to stop it." With that said Naruto left the room.

"Are you going to stop him?" Byakko asked.

The old sage sighed. "I'd wish he wouldn't go just yet. However, I won't stop him if that is his choice. His training is almost complete, he will be back when he knows his current level isn't enough. Go with him, Byakko. He'll need your help."

"I don't see why he needs me. The boy is like a force of nature as it is. What could I possible offer him?"

"Naruto is still so young. He may be a force of nature when it comes to fighting, but he's still so immature, and whether you know it or not, he respects you." The old sage chuckled. "Hard to believe. I know the way you two fight some days."

Byakko sweat dropped. "I already apologized for destroying half the house," he deadpanned.

The old sage seemed to completely ignore his statement. "I've never seen you so irritated before in my life."

"That boy can be infuriating!" Byakko growled.

"He can be at times. Yet you've grown to like him very much. You treat him like one of your own and you know it."

The old tiger stayed silent.

"I know the boy will summon you if he really needs you, but do try to just stay in this realm as much as you can."

"That might cause problems."

"It may, it may not."

Byakko stood up and walked towards the door leading out of the room. "Very well. I'll do as you've asked."

….

Naruto had finished changing, and now stood atop the old sage's home. He was just staring off into the clouds, thinking. What was he thinking about? Well that was pretty simple: his friends. Naruto was thinking about how they'd react when they found out he wasn't dead. He was sure Sakura would deck him and walk off in a huff. Naruto chuckled a little at that mental image.

"So you're leaving, Naruto?"

Naruto didn't turn around. "Yeah. I can't sit here anymore old man. Why? You going to stop me or something?" he asked the old sage standing behind him.

"No, I didn't plan on it," he replied.

"Well then, I'll be off."

"Just remember your training isn't complete yet."

"Yeah, yeah, I know." Naruto hopped off the roof and disappeared from sight.

**Back in Konoha**

Tsunade watched as Hinata threw Kushina up in the air and caught her when she came back down. Kushina giggled happily in Hinata's arms.

"Hinata, shouldn't you be going soon? I mean, your team has been waiting in the trees since you arrived," Tsunade said.

"I know. They always wait for me to finish here. It's nothing different from any other time."

"We came to see Niichan!" Kushina said suddenly.

"Did you now?" Hinata asked with a smile. Hinata looked at Tsunade with a raised eyebrow.

Tsunade looked to the side and towards the ground.

"Well, I'm sure you can meet your niichan soon. Sparrow." An ANBU wearing a sparrow mask appeared behind Hinata. "Kushina, could you go with Sparrow for a little?" Kushina nodded. Hinata handed Kushina to Sparrow who then walked away asking the child what she wanted to do.

"I tried telling her Naruto isn't around anymore, but...but kids her age don't understand death, and shouldn't have to."

"So you told her Naruto was here?"

Tsunade looked at the stone and put her hand on his name. They stood there and remained silent for a few minutes. "I didn't know what else to do. I did try to tell her he was gone, but it didn't work. She just thought he was away on a long trip. I made up some story and told her about this place and she wanted to come here."

Sparrow appeared behind Hinata with a sleeping Kushina in his arms. "My apologies, but after I made her a carving, she got very excited and tired herself out." Sparrow walked over and handed Tsunade her daughter and the carving.

Tsunade took her daughter and the carving. She looked at it for a moment before smiling."It's quite alright. Thank you for looking after her while your team leader and I had a private chat."

"Of course, Hokage-sama." Sparrow turned towards Hinata. "We'd best be going now. That's if you want to finish this mission, or at least get anywhere before the storm hits later tonight." With that said, Sparrow disappeared.

"I suppose he's right. We have maybe six hours before the storm begins, and with any luck, the Kumo ninja won't have gone far from where they were last sighted." Hinata put her mask back on. Her code name was fox. Some people made comments about her ANBU name, seeing as she was quite the looker. "I'll see you when I get back, Lady Tsunade."

"Just be careful. I don't want to bury any of Naruto's friends."

"Of course." With that said, Hinata disappeared from sight.

"She sure has changed."

"I was wondering when you'd get back." Tsunade turned and saw her husband sitting in a tree. "And Hinata really hasn't changed. The only thing really different about her is that she's not as shy as she used to be."

"They want a Hyuga."

"Over my dead body," Tsunade replied.

"That's what I figured you would say, so I already told them it's not going to happen."

Tsunade sighed and looked at her daughter. "So the only way to avert war is by some miracle?"

"At this point? That's about all there is."

"I didn't want our daughter to see that kinda thing till she was much older, if ever."

"I won't argue with you about that. It's not exactly something a father looks forward to. At least be thankful she's only two and she won't have to go and fight with the others."

"Do you think any of this would have happened if Naruto were here still?"

Jiraiya sighed. "I really couldn't say. However, the fact he had the Kyuubi inside him was probably a rather large deterrent."

Tsunade looked down at her daughter and smiled. The two of them began walking back towards the Hokage's office. "So, Jiraiya, why are you teaching our daughter bad habits?"

Jiraiya started to sweat a little. "I have no idea what you're talking about, my love." Jiraiya was hoping to avoid the subject with sweet talk.

"Oh, I'm sure you do, considering she thinks a window is a door, much like yourself."

Jiraiya chuckled a bit. "Umm...okay, maybe I did say something like that to her."

"Well talk about this later." Tsunade handed Kushina to him. "Just take her home and put her to bed. And do spend some time with her when she wakes up."

"No way I'm getting out of the talk later, is there?" he asked.

"Not a chance," she replied.

Jiraiya disappeared from sight, Kushina in hand. Tsunade smiled and continued walking. She wondered why she never gave him a chance all those years ago. Jiraiya had actually stopped his peeping ways since she gave him a chance. She had never expected that to happen. Well he still peeped, but it was only on her, so she could live with that. Tsunade had feelings for Jiraiya for a long time, but never could act on them. Of course, that was until Naruto's death, and she turned to him for comfort. She always did that when something terrible happened in her life. First it was her little brother, then it was Dan, and finally, Naruto. She wished she had given Jiraiya a chance years ago. The white-haired fool, as she referred to him sometimes, only wanted to make her happy. Of course, sometimes he got a bit perverted and she had to beat him. However, ever since she gave him that chance almost four years ago, she had really never been happier.

Tsunade arrived back at her office to find quite a few people waiting. They were the former members of team seven, eight, ten and also team Gai. Also the sensei of those teams were here as well. She had sent them all out as a battle group that patrolled the Land of Fire border. This group had been quite effective at keeping any and all Kumo ninja from getting into the Land of Fire, save those two four man cells reported being seen. It wasn't normal to have so many in one group but she was sure they split into several smaller groups while they patrolled.

Tsunade sat down in her chair before addressing them. "I see you all came back safe and sound. Now please make your report."

"Yes, well, while on the border, we intercepted four teams of Kumo ninja. Three teams were eliminated, while the other managed to flee back into Kumo territory," Kakashi stated.

"Good, very good. I have your next assignment. All of you will go to the fort nearest the Kumo Border. You will have two days to rest before you have to leave. Understood?" They all nodded in reply. "Very good. You all may leave." everyone left, save Neji and Tenten. "Something you need?"

"Is Hinata back yet?" Neji asked.

"Sorry, Neji, but she just left about ten minutes ago on her next mission."

Neji sighed. "I see."

"Is there something wrong?" Tsunade asked.

"Its been six months since anyone at the clan has been able to speak with her. She's always either out on a mission or avoiding us entirely."

"Can you blame her? She doesn't exactly care about all these different suitors you keep shoving in her face. Not to mention she moved out of the clan compound to get away from the elders. Just leave her alone."

"Well, maybe I'll be able to talk with her once she comes back. Good day Hokage-sama." Neji and Tenten turned and walked out the door of the Hokage's office.

"Neji-kun you should really stop making such a fuss about all this. Hinata just wants to be left alone like Tsunade-sama said." Tenten hooked her arms around one of his. "Now come on! Let's get something to eat. I'm starved!" Tenten preceded to drag Neji off.

**With Naruto**

Naruto had just arrived at a massive bridge, Zabuza's old sword strapped to his back and Byakko at his side. Naruto had a hood on and a mask to hide his face. He didn't exactly want to be seen just yet by anyone. He walked up to the stone that had an engraving on it. Naruto smiled as he read the inscription on it.

"So you had a rather large bridge named after you. Bravo." Byakko seemed impressed but he praised Naruto with a bit of sarcasm as he always did. "Now why exactly are we here?"

"It's been a few years and I feel like paying my respects to some people I used to know. That a good enough answer for you?"

"It will suffice for now."

Not far off the beaten path from the other side of the bridge was a small clearing and two graves. Naruto walked up to the two graves. He just stood there, looking at the grave stone he had made a few years ago when he had taken the sword.

"Well I'll leave you to it. I spotted a deer a little ways back, and I'm a bit hungry."

"Sure. Just don't be seen."

Byakko disappeared into the woods.

Naruto gripped the hilt of the sword on his back as he heard someone coming from the brush. He knew it wasn't a ninja, as they wouldn't be making such noises.

"Who are you and what are you doing in this place? I believe there was an 'off limits' sign back there somewhere."

Naruto didn't turn around. He only smiled under his mask. "Still drinking a lot, old man?" Naruto knew that voice; it was Tazuna the bridge builder, although he was probably known as something other than that now.

"I may be old, and I may perhaps drink quite a bit. However, I don't think we've met before. Also, I believe that weapon you're holding doesn't belong to you, but to the man buried in that grave."

Naruto removed his mask and turned around. "Actually, we have met, you old drunkard, and I don't think Zabuza would mind me using the sword."

Tazuna looked at the sake bottle in his hand and dropped it like it was poison and proceed to rub his eyes repeatedly. "So are you something the sake conjured up?"

Naruto blinked several times. "I don't think you drank enough for anything like that to happen. You'd probably die if you ever drank that much, Tazuna."

"So it is you, Naruto. Everyone kept saying you were dead. I even visited your grave. Well, as much a grave as they can give someone, seeing as they can't exactly give everyone that's died their own."

"Yeah, well, to everyone, I am dead, at least for now."

"So what have you been doing all this time?" Tazuna asked, picking the sake bottle back up and drinking the remains of the bottle.

"Training and the like," he replied. "Why are you here?"

Tazuna smiled a little. "Sounds like the Naruto I know. Me? Well, I come here every so often and share a drink with Zabuza here." Tazuna walked over to the graves and stood beside Naruto. "I take it you won't be staying any length of time?"

"No. There are things I need to do," Naruto replied. "How have things been since I've been gone?"

"Things have been pretty good since Gato's been killed. Our country managed to take control of his empire." Tazuna went into detail about events leading up to the current date.

"Sounds like life's been good to you and your family."

Tazuna nodded repeatedly. "Indeed. It has been. Oh, I almost forgot. A few hours ago, a Konoha ANBU stopped by and asked a few questions."

"About what?"

"Seems two groups of Kumo ninja made it across the border. They were seen at a town across the bridge near the coast. I'm sure the Kumo ninja are still around there. If you look, I'm sure you'll bump into one of the groups." Tazuna stood there for a moment a bit of drool sliding down his cheek.

"What are you fantasizing about?"

"Oh it's just the ANBU that came here was quite shapely and had very long, dark colored hair. I wish I could have seen her face. I probably could have died a happy man."

Naruto sweat dropped. "Are all old people perverts? You know what, don't answer that question. I really don't want to know." Naruto started walking off. "I'll be back and maybe I can stay longer then."

"Why can't you just live here?" Tazuna asked. "I mean, no one knows your still alive. You could live a peaceful life here."

"That does sound nice but that's just not for me right now. There are too many things I need to do before I can think about living that kind of life. Byakko we're leaving." A large white tiger dropped down from a tree and landed beside Naruto.

"Just be careful! There is that rather nasty storm!" Naruto lifted his hand and waved as he walked away. "Eh, that boy will be just fine without my worrying. Well, I best be getting home. It will probably be dark in an hour or so, not to mention it's freezing out here. I suppose I'll wait a few days before telling everyone," Tazuna said to himself as he walked off into the forest. "Hmm I should probably pick up some more sake on the way home."

**With Hinata**

Night had fallen and rain had just started to pour from the clouds. The freezing rain stung Hinata's face, her mask lost somewhere in the woods. However, none of this was registering with Hinata at all. Why? The simple answer was she was running for her life. Her team had found the two teams of Kumo ninja, and their attack was executed perfectly. They had killed seven out of the eight in under a few seconds.

However, they didn't take into account that one of the Kumo ninja happened to be the two-tailed jinchuuriki. They would never have thought she would be part of that group, all things considered. Hinata and her team fought, but they were no match for the one known as Yugito Nii. Hinata was the only one to make it out alive when Yugito Nii fought back after the initial attack.

Hinata and her team only fought for a few minutes before being overwhelmed by the sheer power of the jinchuuriki. Hinata had wasted far too much of her chakra and was currently running on next to nothing. She didn't even have enough to keep her Byakugan activated. To top it off, Hinata had a few broken ribs from being smashed through a tree. Hinata didn't know how much longer she would be able to run. Although, that didn't matter, as the next branch she landed on snapped as if it were a twig.

_'Oh no!'_ she thought as she fell. She hit the wet ground with a thud.

Yugito landed on the ground not far from Hinata. "Well it seems I'll be rewarded once I get back to Kumo. It's not everyday one finds an unsealed Hyuga woman in combat." Yugito began to walk towards Hinata with a smirk on her face.

Hinata tried to stand but failed at the attempt. "Stay away from me!" Hinata screamed. She was well aware of what would happen to her if she was captured and brought back to Kumo. The thought terrified her beyond reason. Hinata continued to back up while still on the ground till her back hit a tree.

"There's nowhere to run anymore," Yugito stated as she walked ever closer. However, she stopped. She heard something coming. Something big and fast. Her eyes widened she jumped back just in time to avoid a massive black sword that came cutting through the trees. The sword sliced everything in it's path, branches, whole tree trunks, even the ground. _'I've seen that sword before. However, the man that wields it should be dead. Not to mention that was a wind blade on the sword. I know for a fact Zabuza couldn't use wind chakra,'_ she thought quickly

A man covered in a black rain cloak came into view a mask covered his face. He held out his hand, and the sword appeared back in it. "Leave," was all he said.

Hinata's eyesight was failing her, as she was losing the battle to stay conscious. She couldn't make out the figure at all other than the fact that person was wearing black and was rather tall. The voice sounded vaguely familiar as well.

Yugito had never seen anything like that before. This person standing before her was no amateur. She had also never seen or heard of being able to summon one's weapon like that. Not to mention the Bijuu sealed inside her was cowering. She had never seen the proud two-tailed cat in that state before. However, she couldn't leave. Not when she was so close to bringing back an unsealed Hyuga girl. Not without a fight, at least.

* * *

A/N So, whatcha think?

Next chapter will, of course, be Naruto vs Yugito Nii. I thought this was a pretty good cut off point for the chapter. Not to mention I couldn't decide and I flipped a coin. Yes. I seriously flipped a coin to decide whether or not the fight would be in this chapter.


	5. Catching Up

**Chapter 5**

Catching Up

Yugito wasn't up for this fight. She hid it well, but she had taken quite a bit of damage from Hinata's team. Most of the damage came from Hinata herself, however. That Gentle Fist style of fighting was quite devastating, even to her. Yugito knew she would have to end this quickly, or she would most certainly die.

"I'll only ask you one more time to leave." Naruto stood, sword at the ready, awaiting Yugito's answer.

"I can't leave without her. It's that simple," she replied, readying herself.

Naruto disappeared from sight, reappearing behind Yugito. Her eyes went wide. He was so fast, even holding such a large sword. Naruto had the sword already above her head. He brought the sword down in the blink of an eye. Yugito had barely been able to dodge by diving to the side.

_'He's swinging that sword like a Kami-forsaken toy!'_ she yelled in her mind.

Naruto reacted quickly to her dodge and kicked her in the gut while she was still in midair, sending her flying through the trees.

Yugito came to a stop after flying through the forest. She didn't have time to think, however, as she saw the massive sword come flying at her through the trees. She leapt to the side to avoid being hit, and disappeared into the trees. _'Damn, he's fast...'_

"If you don't come at me with everything you have, I'll kill you," Naruto said. He raised his hand and the massive sword appeared right back in it. "You're the two-tailed Jinchuuriki. You're supposed to be better than this." Naruto didn't know where his opponent was now, but he knew she was still out there in the forest. A bone-chilling wind swept through the area, bringing with it a downpour of rain. Naruto looked over at the girl leaned up against the tree. He finally realized who she was. It was Hinata.

Just then, while he was distracted, Yugito burst through the trees, one tail worth of demonic chakra activated. She smashed her fist into the person's masked face. However, it didn't have the desired effect, as he simply burst into a cloud of smoke. "A shadow clone? When did he..." She didn't get to finish that statement, as the masked figure appeared behind her, kicking her in the side and sending her back into the trees.

Yugito jumped straight up in the air, and quickly performed some hand seals. Naruto appeared in front of Yugito before she could finish and took a swipe at her with his sword.

Yugito, while in midair, maneuvered out of the path of the man's sword, but only barely. She countered with a kick directly to his face. However, it didn't have the desired effect, as all it did was break his mask.

Naruto grabbed her by the ankle before she could retract her leg, then proceeded to swing her around in the air as if she were a rag doll, and threw her straight down into the ground. Yugito hit the ground with a massive amount of force. Naruto landed on the ground not far away from her as lightning struck nearby. "You're a lot more worn out than you were letting on. I figured you'd have much more fight left in you than that." Naruto's mask fell away, revealing his face.

Yugito slowly got up off the ground, only to be stunned by the person's face. Whisker marks on his cheeks, blue eyes, and blond hair. She knew that description. This man fit the description of the Kyuubi container to a tee! "You're supposed to be dead!" she yelled.

"Yeah, I guess I am. But I'm not," he replied. "Ever been to your own funeral?" he asked. "It's just so weird when you're standing near everyone and they don't even know it." Naruto didn't seem to regard Yugito as a threat any longer. He secured his sword to his back, walked over to Hinata and scooped her up into his arms. She was soaking wet and felt like ice.

Yugito tried to move to take advantage of Naruto turning his back, but she couldn't seem to even budge a finger. "What did you do to me!"

"I placed a seal on your body that has basically paralyzed you. Don't worry. It's not permanent. It'll wear off in probably ten minutes or so." Naruto started to walk off until Yugito spoke again.

"Weren't you going to kill me?" she asked. She wasn't sure why she asked such a question, seeing as normally, if she were in this position, she would be either captured or killed.

Naruto turned around and shrugged his shoulders. "To be honest, killing you would probably be more trouble than it's worth."

"If you leave me alive, I'll come after you."

Naruto smiled. "Your choice." Naruto vanished from sight, leaving Yugito standing there, paralyzed.

"**You shouldn't provoke him," **the demon cat said, finally speaking.

"_Shut up, and go back to cowering in the fetal position,"_ Yugito replied coldly.

….

Naruto arrived at the entrance to a cave. He walked in to see Byakko laying beside the fire. Naruto laid Hinata down close to the fire. He moved her long hair so it was beside her instead of under her.

"The others of her team didn't make it," Byakko spoke.

"I see." Naruto stood there, looking at Hinata. There was something he had to do, but thinking of it was currently making his face red. However, Byakko didn't have a problem saying what he was going to have to do.

"You need to remove her wet clothes...or are you going to let her freeze?"

"I know that, dammit! And of course not!" Naruto yelled. "I just don't feel comfortable taking her clothes off, that's all," he mumbled.

"Yeah, well, whether you feel comfortable or not is rather irrelevant now, isn't it?"

Naruto sighed, then pulled out a few scrolls and unsealed the contents. The contents were a sleeping bag, some towels, and two blankets. Naruto quickly took off the ANBU outfit that Hinata was wearing. He basically had his eyes shut the entire time, save a few times when he had to look at what exactly he was touching.

Byakko watched, rather amused at the sight.

Naruto had just finished taking off her ANBU uniform. He left the combat bandages and her panties on. He noticed the bruising just below the combat wrappings on her breasts. Naruto picked Hinata up gently and placed her on the sleeping bag, then placed the blanket over the lower half of her body. He grabbed the towels and wrapped them around her hair to dry it. He placed the other blanket on the upper half of her body. While the blanket was on her chest he reached under and cut off the combat wraps with a kunai and pulled them out.

"She may have some broken ribs judging from that type of bruising," Byakko stated.

"I know. I'm not very good at the healing arts the old man showed me, but I can at least mend them a little and take away the bruising." Naruto's hands began to glow. The bruised skin began to change back to its normal pale white color. Naruto was sweating, as he was doing his best to keep his own energy at bay. The fact was, if he used too much at once, it would probably kill her. He could easily crush an organ if he used too much chakra at once or in too broad an area. Naruto finished what he dared to do several minutes later. He wrapped the blankets around her and slipped her inside the sleeping bag. He then picked up the sleeping bag and put it between Byakko and the fire.

Byakko looked at the unconscious girl beside him. "Who is this girl exactly?" he asked.

"Her name's Hinata Hyuga. She's about as close to royalty as it gets in the Leaf Village. I really never talked to her much back when I was in the village. I always thought she was weird, but I realized a few years back she was just shy around people. I believe she has a sister, but I never met her. I suppose Hinata got over her shyness seeing as she's an ANBU now." Naruto just stared at the flames of the fire as if he were remembering past events.

"What about the one you were fond of?"

"Oh, Sakura?" Byakko nodded. "That was just a crush, nothing more. I knew she'd never love me or anything like that. I don't even know if what I felt for her was love in the first place. Maybe it was just the outcast wanting attention? I really don't know."

"Outcast?"

"Oh...well when I was younger and really up until my funeral I was pretty much ignored by the villagers with very few exceptions. I was rejected by mostly everyone because of old fox face. If he hadn't attacked, my mom and dad would still be alive, and everyone would have known from the beginning I was the son of the Fourth Hokage." Naruto sighed and stood up. "Some part of me doesn't want to go back to the village. I know, when I get back, there will be those who want me locked up or something like that."

"I wouldn't worry too much about that, Naruto."

"I suppose so." Naruto made a hand-seal and created more wood for the fire. "What should I do now? I mean Kumo is probably going to go to war soon if they are sending people like her beyond the border."

Byakko thought about that for a moment. "Well, I suppose they think your village is at its weakest and prime for the pickings. I mean, they lost their deterrent, AKA you. Also, they lost the last of the Uchiha. I'm sure that played a part in it as well."

"So you're basically saying if I show up with a big enough show of force, I might be able to turn them back from really starting a war?"

"Yes, that's pretty much what I was going to say. If you can make a big enough show, they will probably think starting a war now would cost them more than what they bargained for and withdraw to begin talks. Well, that's the best-case scenario."

"Yeah, but nothing's going to happen until this storm blows over, which could be at least another day." Naruto made a hand seal and several sticks popped out of the ground, which Naruto put Hinata's clothes on to dry.

"You should rest, Naruto. You've been up for several days straight debating on whether or not to leave the old sage's home. I'll watch over things while you do."

Naruto yawned a little. "I guess I really should." Naruto took the sword off his back and planted it in the ground near the fire. He walked over to the left side of the cave and sat down on the ground. He propped his back against the back of the cave and closed his eyes. He was asleep within seconds.

"That boy needs a girlfriend or something..." Byakko looked down at the girl beside him. For a human, she was quite beautiful. "Perhaps."

**At the Sage's home**

The old sage sat on his front porch. There was no rain falling on the small village. The clouds seemed to go around the village for some reason and converge on the other side. The old sage was thinking about his apprentice as he stared off into the sky.

Asami came out of the home carrying two cups of tea. She sat down next to the old man and handed him a cup of tea. "Stop worrying so much. I'm sure Naruto will be just fine." Asami hadn't changed a single bit in almost four years. It was as if she were timeless.

"I know he'll be fine, it's just that Naruto never understood that he can't save everyone. He'll lose friends and perhaps even his significant other..."

"Don't get all doomsday on me now," she said cutting him off. "Everyone has to learn these things one way or another, you know that."

"I know, and when he does he'll probably come back here for the final part of his training."

"Why didn't you finish his training?"Asami clearly didn't understand why he did what he did.

"Because the last part of his training has a good chance of ending his life."

Nothing was said after that. They just sat there, drinking their tea and staring off into the distance.

**Back at the cave**

Hinata stirred in her sleep. It had been several hours since Naruto had brought Hinata back to the cave, and it was now very early in the morning. The storm still raged on outside the cave. Hinata was starting to awaken from her slumber. She felt nice and warm right now. She thought everything that had happened had just been a bad dream, and she was back in her own bed. Hinata opened her eyes. She found she was definitely not in her room, but in some sort of cave. She found she was in a sleeping bag. It was...orange?

Hinata sat up, but it hurt to do so. She found she was practically naked, and held the blanket that was wrapped around her to her chest.

"Ah, so you're awake, I see."

The voice was somewhat deep, and it was coming from behind her. She turned and saw a large white tiger walking up to her from the entrance of the cave. Hinata had yet to realize Naruto was in the cave with her. Realizing where she was, Hinata knew that none of what she had experienced was a dream. "Who are you?"

"I'm Byakko, leader of the tiger summons." Byakko sat down beside the fire.

"Umm...who saved me?"

"The pathetic lump over there who's drooling on himself." Byakko looked in the direction where Naruto was.

Hinata turned to see Naruto, sitting propped up against the wall. He was indeed drooling on himself. _'He looks so tall. He even grew his hair out a bit more than he had it back then.'_ The fact was, Naruto looked very much like his father at that point in time. Hinata just smiled as she looked at Naruto sleeping against the wall.

"You don't seem very surprised to find out he's alive," Byakko stated.

Hinata laid back down, a smile on her face. "I saw him the day of his funeral. He didn't see me, though."

"So all this time, you knew he was alive?"

"I did, but I'm the only one who knows for sure." Hinata winced as a surge of pain coursed through her body.

"How bad is the pain?" Byakko asked.

"Not bad, considering they're broken," she replied.

"Not broken anymore. Naruto fixed them as best he could. However, I'm sure he wasn't able to fully heal them. He was never quite that good at the healing arts.He was also the one that took off all of your clothes."

Hinata's face went beet red. _'Naruto-kun saw me naked?'_ That thought was being played repeatedly inside her head.

"Don't worry. That boy is odd, and took great care not to look at you while he was trying to take off your wet clothes. Although I'm sure he got an eyeful at one point or another." Byakko was thoroughly enjoying Hinata's reaction.

Hinata's blush was in full bloom. "Are my clothes dry yet?"

"Well, it's been several hours since they were hung up to dry. They probably are. However, I would probably ask Naruto later on for one of his spare coats. I'm sure he has one. Oh, and don't worry about Naruto waking. He's a very sound sleeper, as you can tell by the drool." Byakko loved to poke fun at Naruto whenever possible.

Hinata sat up in the sleeping bag she then stood up with the blankets still covering her body. She grabbed her clothes and let the blanket fall to the floor. Hinata wasn't exactly comfortable but she couldn't keep the blanket on her and put her clothes on at the same time.

Byakko wasn't trying to look at Hinata, but he couldn't exactly help it. For a human, she was beautiful. Her skin was perfect. No scars, nothing.

"How's Naruto-kun been?" Hinata asked, putting on the ANBU flak jacket.

"Resilient," Byakko replied. He noticed how Hinata spoke Naruto's name with such affection, but didn't say anything about it.

Hinata let out a small giggle. That was Naruto. He could take anything thrown at him and come back for more. Hinata stood there for a moment, just watching Naruto sleep. He looked so peaceful right now. She walked over to him, but as Hinata was about to reach out and touch him, Byakko spoke.

"I wouldn't touch him while he's asleep."

Hinata pulled her hand away. "Why?" She was truly curious as to why Byakko said that.

"The old man that trained him had a habit of attacking him while he napped. About six months after that started occurring, Naruto began to react in his sleep to pretty much any form of physical contact... actually you just have to get very close to him. Watch." Byakko kicked a rock with his front paw and sent it flying at Naruto's head. Just as the rock was about to bean him in the head, his hand shot up and grabbed the rock. "See what I mean?"

"I do."

"Why would someone such as yourself live this lifestyle?" Byakko's question was rather random, but it was a very good one at the same time. Hinata was beautiful. She didn't deserve this type of lifestyle. She deserved to be happy.

"Many reasons beyond my control," Hinata replied sadly.

Naruto yawned loudly and sat up right. He stood and stretched a bit. "Oh man definitely need a better place to sleep next time." Naruto rubbed his eyes and noticed Hinata was awake and fully dressed. He blushed slightly. "Hey, Hinata. Feeling all right?"

Hinata blushed slightly. "I am, thank you."

The two just stood there an awkward silence hung in the air. That was, until Naruto's stomach growled rather loudly.

"Seems like I'm hungry already..." Naruto said with a big smile.

"I hoped your remembered to pack supplies."

"Of course I remembered to pack supplies, Byakko! They're somewhere in here." Naruto rifled through his coat, pulling out scrolls. "No, that's not it. No, not that one either. Nope, that isn't it either." There was a growing pile of scrolls on the ground behind him. "Ah ha!" Naruto held a scroll with the word food written on it. The scroll was about twice as long as a normal one. Naruto quickly rolled it out on the ground. "Release!" In a poof of smoke, there was pots pans, many types of meats and vegetables, and also items with which to start a fire. The scroll was like a survival kit.

"One problem, kid. You can't cook much of anything other than ramen, and I don't see the ingredients to cook that here."

Naruto's head hung low in shame. "It's not my fault no one really ever taught me how to cook."

"I can cook," Hinata said, in a soft voice.

"Really?" Naruto asked.

Hinata nodded.

"Well, I vote for her to cook. I'm afraid you'll make something inedible out of perfectly good food."

"You can be so mean sometimes..."

Hinata giggled and began preparations to cook the food. She gathered up food items that she wanted to cook, planning on making a stew.

Naruto had made his way to the entrance of the cave. He just stared out of the cave, watching the storm while Hinata cooked.

"How long were you awake?" Byakko asked, walking up beside Naruto.

"Since she woke up."

Byakko grinned. "So you got quite the eyeful then, did you?"

Naruto blushed. "I may have." Naruto looked back into the cave. He watched Hinata. She had a smile on her face and she was humming happily as she cooked. "Does she know about what happened to the rest of her team?"

"No. I'm sure she probably understands, seeing as they're not here."

"I guess." Naruto just watched Hinata cook. She seemed happy. She seemed so much less timid than she used to be the last time he saw her. Naruto wasn't sure how much time had passed, but it must have been at least two hours before Hinata was finished.

"Food's ready!" she called out. Hinata grabbed three bowls and filled them with the stew she had cooked.

Naruto and Byakko made their way over to the fire. Hinata handed Naruto a bowl and put one down on the ground for Byakko. Both Naruto and Hinata sat down beside one another. Hinata watched Naruto out of the corner of her eye as he dug into the food she had cooked.

"This is great!" Naruto exclaimed, complementing Hinata's cooking.

"Yes, this stew is quite excellent," Byakko added his own compliment.

Hinata smiled brightly. "Thank you!" Hinata happily ate her meal. She was really happy Naruto liked the food she cooked.

"That was a great meal!" Naruto shouted. He had eaten at least four bowls. Hinata took the bowls and used a low powered water jutsu to begin cleaning them. "So you knew I was alive the entire time, Hinata?"

"You were awake? Then you saw me..." Hinata face turned beet red, and a light blush appeared on Naruto's face as well. There was a somewhat awkward silence until she spoke again. "Why didn't you stay in the village? Couldn't you have become stronger there?"

"I had that option to forgo what the old man was offering to teach me. That's why he brought me to the village that day. But there were things he could teach me that no one else could." Naruto performed a few hand signs, and a tree sprouted from the ground.

"How?" she asked, sitting down beside him again since she was done with the dishes.

"Sorry. I can't talk about it Hinata. By the way, can I ask you something?"

"What is it Naruto-kun?"

"That question Byakko asked you earlier, about why you chose this lifestyle. What did you mean by that?"

Hinata stared sadly into the fire. "I didn't choose this life. I never wanted this life. I would have rather been a doctor or worked as a teacher or something normal like that. I never wanted to be a ninja. I don't like killing people, but I don't have a choice in the matter. I'm the so-called disappointment of my clan," Hinata explained, making air quotes. "I don't even get to choose who I can marry. Did you know, every generation, a female Hyuga is married off to someone outside the family? Most people don't. Well, I guess it's not all bad. I don't have to live with the man, and he's not allowed to keep the children. That's at least two bright spots. Anyhow, the reason being is for genetic diversity. Of course, we have more than enough as it is. It's just a tradition as to not come to the point of not enough of it." Hinata smiled sadly. "I was able to stall being married off, though, by becoming an ANBU. That won't keep me from being married off sooner or later, though."

"That's terrible. Would they really do that to you?"

"They would," she replied sadly.

"But why would someone marry you and give you children, if they could never be with them or anything?" Naruto asked.

"It's a status thing. I honestly don't get it myself," she replied.

There was a silence that filled the cave. All you could hear was the wind and rain outside. Naruto decided to try and change the subject. "Ummm... so how's everyone been?"

"Shikamaru got married a few month ago," Hinata said with a smile. "I got to be the Maid of Honor!" Hinata said happily. "Chouji got to be the Best Man."

"Who'd Shikamaru marry?"

"Temari."

"Really? Gaara's older sister?"

"Yeah. I was really surprised when she asked me to be the Maid of Honor. They had the wedding in Suna."

"What about everyone else?"

"Lets see, Chouji and Ino started dating a few months ago. Oh, Neji and Tenten are dating, too. Kiba, Sakura, Lee, and Shino really haven't dated or anything, but they're doing well. OH! Tsunade and Jiraiya got married, and they have a little girl."

"Really? Granny got married to the Pervy Sage and had a kid?" Naruto asked, clearly amazed Tsunade had a kid, with the master of perverts no less.

"Yeah, she's a sweet little girl. She has your mother's name. Oh, and she has Jiraiya's hair color," Hinata explained.

Naruto smiled. "That's nice."

"Did you know Tsunade signed adoption papers?"

"For what?"

"For you. She had planned on adopting you. She was going to tell you once you came back from that mission to get Sasuke."

"I had no idea."

Hinata was so happy right now. She was able to talk with Naruto without stuttering or passing out like she used to. "Oh, and Kakashi got married last year, too."

"Really? I never could picture him getting married or anything like that."

"He married my former Sensei, Kurenai Yuhi. Those two seem very happy together." Hinata wasn't going to go into the fact that it all happened because Kakashi was an emotional wreck and Kurenai was trying to comfort him.

"Good for them. Glad to hear everyone seems to be doing well."

"Everyone misses you, Naruto-kun. It's just not the same."

Naruto smiled. What Hinata had said made him feel happy. He glanced over at Hinata, who seemed to be suppressing the urge to shiver; however, she wasn't very well. He quickly got up and grabbed one of the blankets and put it around her. "If you're cold, Hinata, you should say something."

Hinata blushed lightly. "Thank you, Naruto-kun." She was indeed cold. Hinata glanced at the large sword once carried by a man named Zabuza Momochi. "So you were the one who took the sword?"

"Yeah. I don't think he'd mind me using it. The sword looks pretty impractical, but once you've used it for a while, it's just like any other weapon." In a poof of smoke, a small tiger cub landed on Naruto's head. Naruto sweat-dropped.

"He's so cute!" Hinata exclaimed, snatching the small cub off Naruto's head and holding him tightly to her chest.

"Hiroki I told you, your father and I were going to be busy, and you shouldn't just drop in on us like this," Naruto explained in a stern voice.

"Yes. We did indeed," Byakko agreed, walking over to them.

"If I look after him, can he stay?" Hinata asked.

Byakko thought about it for a moment. "Very well. If you are willing to look after him, he can stay."

Hinata scratched the small cub behind the ear, making him purr rather loudly. Hinata giggled. Hiroki was so cute! Both Naruto and Byakko just watched. Both of them kind of wished they were in that position.

**In Kumo**

It was early in the morning. The Raikage sat at the head of a very large, crescent moon shaped desk. To his right and left were the Jounin and Chuunin that made up the Military Advisory Board. He was calling them together one last time to see if their decision to go to war with the Leaf had changed. Seeing as his demands were not met, he was going to go through with the war.

"Tell me, is it a unanimous decision to go to war with the leaf?" the Raikage asked in a loud, authoritative voice.

A Jounin stood to the left of the Raikage. The man didn't look like anyone important. "I believe everybody here agrees with me. The Leaf Village is in the weakest state it has ever been. They have no Uchiha left, and they have lost their Jinchuuriki. At this point in time, it would be our best opportunity to strike." The man looked around and everyone else seemed to nod in agreement.

"How long would it take for the siege weaponry to get to the border?" the Raikage asked.

"At the very least, four to five days," the man replied.

"I hear there's a massive storm ravaging the Land of Fire at the moment," the Raikage stated.

The man that was standing nodded. "Indeed, there is, making now all the better time to attack."

"Very well. Move the siege weapons into place."

**Back at the cave**

A few hours had passed since Hiroki arrived. Both the small cub and Hinata were now asleep. Hinata was still very worn out, and she needed the rest. Naruto and Byakko stood near the mouth of the cave, looking back inside at the two.

"I may need your brothers to help us, Byakko."

"Yes, I've already considered that. I'll be leaving you soon to go prepare for what may occur." Byakko looked at his son, who seemed to be sleeping soundly with Hinata. "I'll be leaving my son with you for now. I'd like to also find out why he comes here so often."

"Well, if I had to guess, I'd say his siblings are picking on him."

Byakko sighed. "Yes, I suppose that is a probable reason as to why. Considering he is the youngest, I have no doubt that is the reason."

Naruto turned and looked out of the cave at the storm. "I suppose everyone will know I'm still alive soon enough. The Akatsuki will finally begin to move once that happens."

"I don't quite understand why now, after all this time."

"Well, what would be the point to only be able to obtain eight of the nine? Everyone would know by then and move against Madara. I don't think Madara can really afford to try grab eight of them and wait a decade or so for the Kyuubi to reform."

"If he's truly trying to be cautious for now, then that would make sense. Well, before I leave I'll tell you something the old man should have. Keep your friends at arm's length. Your kind has a habit of doing whatever it takes to win. This Madara person will probably take hostage whoever is closest to you without hesitation if it will achieve his goals."

"I know..."

Byakko disappeared in a poof of smoke leaving his son behind.

Naruto made a hand seal and several shadow clones appeared in front of him. "Go to Kumo and find out what they're planning, then disperse. Also, make sure you're not seen." The clones merely nodded and departed. Naruto sat down near the entrance of the cave and just watched the little cub nuzzle with Hinata. "Well, seems Hiroki's happy."

Naruto thought about all the things Hinata had told him about. The fact that Shikamaru was now married was a really big surprise. The fact that Tsunade married Jiraiya and had a kid was an even bigger surprise. Seemed a great deal had happened in a rather short period of time. The fact that Tsunade was going to adopt him was also a shocker. Naruto sighed. Things were going to get complicated very soon.

* * *

A/N So, whatcha think?

I'd like to say I'm sorry for this chapter taking so long. However, between school, my dog dying, and my dad's cancer coming back, things have been tenuous at the best of times right now. I do hope this was to the majority's satisfaction, as I can't please everyone.

To those that have asked and are wondering. This will not be one of those fast romances between Naruto and Hinata, unlike all my other stories. It will be a little while yet before they become a couple or anything like that.


	6. Returning Home

**Chapter 6**

Returning Home

Two days had come and gone in the Leaf Village. It was early in the morning, and it was time for many to awaken from their slumber.

Sakura twisted and turned in bed. She didn't want to get up. However, she had to, because today she had to leave with Kakashi and the others on a mission. She groaned loudly as she sat up in bed. Sakura slowly got out of bed. She wore a pink tank top and pink short shorts. Sakura always wore these to bed. She wore them so she wasn't indecent if something happened and she didn't have time to get dressed. Over the years, Sakura had grown her hair back out. She didn't know why, herself, she just grew it till it touched midway down her back.

Sakura looked to the side. There were a few pictures on her dresser. Sakura let out a long, drawn-out sigh. She had no idea why she left a constant reminder of her former teammates near her bed in the form of a few different pictures. perhaps she did as some form of punishment for the past she would most likely never be able to make up for. Sakura was drawn out of her thoughts when there was a knock on the door.

Sakura yawned and walked over to the door. She opened the door to find Ino standing there, all bright and cheery. "Oh, it's just you Ino." Sakura walked into the kitchen to get something to eat. "What do you want this early in the morning?" Sakura asked rather coldly.

"Just to bother you, Forehead."

"I see." Sakura came out of the kitchen and headed into her room to change.

"Geez, Sakura, stop being so cold all the time! You're almost as bad as Hinata is these days when it comes to missions that take her away from the village for weeks on end."

"Just leave me alone, Ino. I don't need another lecture from you," Sakura said from the bathroom.

"I'll let you off just this one time, billboard brow. I'm sure Chouji is waiting outside the door for me."

Sakura didn't reply. She just stood in the bathroom for a good thirty minutes before coming out. She was fully dressed now. She slowly walked over to the pictures and picked up the one of when she, Sasuke, and Naruto had become team seven. Sakura let out a long drawn out sigh. "I wish both of you were still here..." Sakura's voice trailed off as she just stared at the picture. There were so many things Sakura wanted to apologize to Naruto for.

**At the cave**

Naruto stood at the mouth of the cave. His clones had gone to Kumo and dispersed after retrieving the info Naruto required. He had learned Kumo had already sent its forces to the border. Naruto had also learned that Yugito had made it back to Kumo and informed the Raikage of what had happened. However, his decision to attack the Land of Fire had remained unchanged.

"Naruto-kun! Breakfast is ready!" Hinata called out.

Naruto turned around. "Coming," he replied. Naruto had told Hinata she could go back home, but she had declined. Naruto didn't ask why she wanted to stay, but he didn't care, either. He was just grateful for the company. Naruto sat down beside Hinata and took the bowl she held in front of him.

For the past two days, both Naruto and Hinata had just talked about what had happened while Naruto was gone. Well more so than they had the first day, anyhow. They had also discussed what was going to happen in the next few days. Naruto looked at Hiroki, who sat next to Hinata, eating some of the food she had cooked. Hinata and Hiroki got along very well.

"You know Sakura's probably going to hit you, Naruto-kun."

Naruto smiled as he put down his bawl. "Yeah, probably." Naruto stood up. "I'm going to check a few things out. I'll be back in a few hours at most."

Hinata smiled at him. "All right."

Naruto secured his sword to his back and left.

About a minute later, a pure white tiger with deep purple eyes walked into the cave.

"Mommy?" Hiroki asked, curious as to why his mother was here.

"You're his mom?" Hinata asked.

"Yes. My name is Rei, and I've come to collect my son." Hiroki walked over and nuzzled with his mother. "You should really stop running away when your brothers pick on you." Hiroki only looked down in shame. "Now return home. Your brothers have been dealt with by your father and uncles."

"Alright," Hiroki replied, disappearing in a cloud of smoke.

"One of these days, Hiroki really needs to grow up a little." Rei walked over and sat down next to Hinata. "I was pretty apprehensive when I heard my mate had left one of my sons with a human woman I'd never met. However, once he told me more about you I wasn't so worried. He also told me the way you look at young Naruto. Also, thank you for taking care of him for the past few days."

Hinata blushed. "I have no idea what you're talking about, but you're welcome."

"Don't deny it. The blush on your face betrays your words."

"I guess I like him a little," Hinata replied awkwardly. "May I ask a question?"

"What about?" the tigress asked.

"Why would Hiroki's siblings pick on him?"

"Hiroki is the youngest, smallest, and weakest of his siblings. You could call him the runt of the litter. However, that's not the reason they pick on him. You see, his father favors him the most, and that's why they hate him. I actually didn't know that Hiroki was leaving home so often because of his siblings. Of course, once my mate got home, he told them all bluntly what would happen if they didn't stop. I suppose that's why my mate had taking such a liking to Naruto. The two are so alike in many ways."

"I see. Will Hiroki be able to drop in from time to time?"

"I'm sure he will, regardless of what I say." Rei stood up. "I'll leave with with this bit of advice. Don't wait too long to tell him. Naruto is a good man, and won't be on the market for very long once he returns to your village."

"I know. He really is special."

"Good to know. Thank you again for looking after my son." Rei disappeared in a cloud of smoke.

**With Naruto**

Naruto stood on the Hokage monument. He was was covered in a cloak with a hood. He had also gotten a new mask. When he left the cave, he had gotten an urge to see how much the village had changed since he left. Naruto quickly found out from looking at the village that nothing had really changed, save Tsunade's face on the Hokage monument. Naruto pushed chakra into his eyes. He did this in order to see like one would when using binoculars. This, of course, isn't nearly as good as the Byakugan. This was just one of the many things Naruto was taught to do by the old sage.

Naruto watched his old friends. It seemed they were all heading towards the front gate. They must have been heading out on another mission. His other friends, like Hinata, looked so much older.

"Seems Sakura grew her hair back out. Neji still looks like a girl...although Tenten doesn't seem to mind." Naruto just observed his friends. They all seemed well. He noticed Shikamaru seemed as lazy as always. He was happy to see Chouji and Ino holding hands as they walked down the street. Kiba and Shino chatted as they walked down another street towards the same place as the others. His eyes fell on Kakashi and Kurenai. He had never seen Kakashi actually happy like that.

….

"Why do we have to leave so soon? I really wanted to stay home for a while this time around."

"We've already had to do this once in our lifetimes, my Koishii," Kakashi said, putting his arm around his wife.

"Yeah, and it sucked then too," she replied, rather annoyed.

Kakashi smiled. "I suppose it did." Kakashi's arm went from his wife's shoulder to her ass.

"Kakashi, now is not the time for that."

"Oh, come on. No one's around."

"Remove your hand or you won't be getting any for at least a month." Kakashi instantly removed his hand from his wife's back side. "Kakashi, you're a pervert." Kurenai gave her husband a kiss on the cheek. "But you're my pervert," she whispered in his ear. Kurenai wrapped her arms around his and put her head on his shoulder. "If you behave, maybe we can have some alone time at the fortress."

Kakashi saw a man wearing green spandex come running up to them. "Kami, not Gai this early in the morning..."

Kurenai giggled.

Gai stopped right in front of Kakashi and Kurenai. "AH! Kakashi, my eternal rival, and his beautiful wife! Are you all prepared to leave?" Gai almost yelled. He seemed very excited, as always, to do anything, even leave on another mission.

Kurenai smiled at the always overly excited man. "Good morning, Gai."

"Lets get to the front gate before you start getting louder, Gai," came another voice from behind them.

They all turned to see Asuma walking up to them. They all exchanged a quick greeting before moving on to the front gate of the village. They arrived at the front gate to see everyone was waiting around. The group exchanged small talk. They always did before they decided to leave on any mission.

During the small talk, Kakashi noticed a figure clad in black standing on the Hokage monument. Normal ninja from this distance wouldn't notice such a thing, but Kakashi was no ordinary ninja. Kakashi looked at Gai, and moved his eye towards the monument, telling him something was wrong. Gai only nodded in return. Kakashi may normally be annoyed with Gai's antics, but they were great partners when it game to battles, as they didn't need words to convey anything.

"If you all will excuse me, I need to get something before we leave." Kakashi shunshined away.

Everyone thought it was a bit odd, as Kakashi was never one to forget anything.

Kakashi appeared five feet behind the figure clad in all black. He saw Zabuza Momochi's sword secured to the figure's back. "Who are you, what are you doing here, and why do you have that sword," Kakashi demanded.

Naruto didn't turn around. "Who am I? Well you'll find that out soon enough, just not today. I just came here for my own personal reasons, that's all. Also, I liked this sword, so I thought I'd use it. I should be going now. Oh...before I leave, though, I'll give you a bit of information. Kumo is on their way with siege weapons and what not, if you don't already know. They will arrive at the border in about two days. I realize in the ninja world, information given like this is taken with a grain of salt, but I thought I should say it anyway. See you around, Kakashi Hatake." Naruto just disappeared in a puff of smoke.

"A shadow clone... I suppose I'll inform the Hokage before I head back to the front gate." Kakashi shunshined away to inform the Hokage before his departure from the village. Even though what that man said was true, one wouldn't just say something like that for no reason. Not to mention Kakashi was already expecting something like that to happen soon.

Kakashi arrived back at the front gate about twenty minutes after he had left. He had visited the Hokage's office and informed her of what had just happened. Tsunade had told Kakashi to still take his battle group out to the fortress as planned, but he was not to tell any of them what had just happened.

"You ready now Kakashi?" Gai asked.

"Yeah, let's head out. We should make it to the fortress by nightfall."

**With Hinata**

Hinata sat outside the cave, humming a tune as she looked at a flower that she had found beside her. For some reason, she was thinking of the first time she had left home.

**Flash back**

Hinata sat in front of the Hyuga council. She was once again being told what she could do and what she couldn't do. She was getting fed up with these old fogies.

"This is ridiculous! How can the heiress to the Hyuga clan be allowed to enter the ANBU?" One of the elders yelled.

"I agree. She'll be sixteen shortly and by clan tradition she will be married off to someone of high standing outside of the clan," one of the younger ones stated.

"Yes. That is the tradition of the first born of the head family," said another.

Hinata sighed. She'd had enough of this, and was done listening to them. She stood up and began to walk towards the door. Hiashi said nothing as he watched. The elders, however, were infuriated.

"What do you think you're doing!" one them yelled, getting up from where he sat. He placed a hand on Hinata's shoulder just as she reached the door.

Hinata didn't say anything. She merely made a quick jab into the man's gut with her elbow, then spun around, thrusting her hand into his chest, sending him flying across the room. "I'm done," she stated calmly. "I'm done with this place, and I'm done with you people who claim to be my family. I revoke my rights as heiress. I may not be able to rid myself of all of the clan's traditions, but I will not live in this compound any longer. I'll be moved out of this place before sunset today." Hinata slid the door open, walked through, and slammed the door back with such force, that the frame cracked. Oddly enough, through all that, Hinata had never raised her voice.

Hinata stormed off to her room. She quickly started to pack things she wanted. As she was packing, there was a knock at her door. "Come in," she said. The door opened and Neji walked in. "Oh, Neji, I wasn't expecting you..."

"Well, for one, I'm here to help pack your things."

"My father's orders?"

Neji shook his head. "No. I just met with your father, yes. However, that's not one of the things he asked me to do."

"I see," Hinata said as she started to pack her clothes in one of her bags.

"Hiashi has asked me to tell you that you're free to leave and that your request to revoke your rights as heiress has been accepted. However, you are still a part of this clan, and some of the duties must still be performed. In one year, you will be wed to someone of your own choosing or of your father's. As the elders said, the normal age is sixteen. However, I believe Hiashi is using your acceptance into the ANBU as way to give you more time. Oh, and there is this." Neji pulled a slip of paper out of his clothes. "Your father wanted me to give you this."

Hinata took the piece of paper and opened it. The slip of paper only had two words written on it and a series of numbers. The words were 'I'm sorry', and what looked like a bank account number. "He still couldn't say it in person. You read the note, didn't you?"

"Yes. The account is money set aside for you."

"I see." While they were talking, Hinata had almost finished packing. The fact was, she wasn't bringing much with her, other than her clothes and a few other personal items.

Neji walked over and picked up the bags. "What do you want me to tell your sister? I mean, she isn't back from her trip yet."

Hinata smiled as she picked up one of her bags. "I'm sure she'll yell and act like a spoiled child when she hears about all this." Hinata walked out of the room with Neji not far behind. Hinata loved her sister. However, Hanabi could really get on her nerves at times.

**End of flashback**

Hinata sighed as she came back to her own reality. "Right. Only a few months left," she said to herself as she pulled petals off the flower. Her expression was one of deep sorrow as she thought about it.

Unbeknownst to Hinata, Naruto stood in the trees just watching her and the sorrowful expression on her face. He had left a clone behind, outside the cave, merely to watch just in case anything happened. In the past, he would have probably gone up to her and asked over and over again what was wrong. However, during his training with the sage, he had learned a great deal of patience. He wasn't sure what she was sad about, but he figured it was time she went home. _'I suppose I should intercept a group of Konoha ninja and let them know,'_ the shadow clone thought before dispersing. There was another reason Naruto had decided to do this. He didn't want Hinata to follow him and get hurt.

**With the real Naruto**

Naruto was sitting in a clearing meditating. For some reason he couldn't do this while Hinata was around. She was just too distracting.

The Kyuubi chuckled to himself. **"You find that female attractive. I'll enjoying killing her the most when I finally get out of this wretched place,"** the fox said darkly. The Kyuubi was very sure that he would be able to make Naruto remove the seal from his prison.

"_Never going to happen,"_ Naruto replied calmly. _"You'll be with me till the day I die. I'll even find a way to take you with me in death as well." _Naruto talked calmly to the fox, completely unaffected by the fox's presence. Over the years Naruto had to deal the Kyuubi many times and because of that he was not afraid of or influenced by the fox.

The Kyuubi let out a thunderous laugh. **"HA! The sage may have trained you but even he doesn't know how to do something like that. I will have my day in the sun once again, boy, and on that day, I will kill everyone you hold dear..."** the Kyuubi's voice died down as he moved back away from the bars. His massive glowing murderous eyes watching everything inside and outside of Naruto's body.

"As creepy and evil as always," Naruto muttered under his breath. Naruto had just received images from his clone that had been watching over the cave he had left Hinata in. Naruto really had enjoyed Hinata's company, but she should have gone home after she was well enough. He didn't want any of his friends getting hurt during this little stunt he was about to try. "Well, Kakashi's group is probably the closest." Naruto stood and created a hand-seal, disappearing from sight in a swirl of leaves.

Naruto stood on top a tree eyes closed gathering natural energy which the sage had shown him how to do. Using natural energy was a great tool for tracking as he could feel the life force of everything for miles in every direction. He was correct in his assumption Kakashi's group was indeed the closest to where Hinata was. "Well this should be interesting..." Naruto jumped off the top of the tree and into the forest.

**With Kakashi's group**

Kakashi's battle group had been traveling for about an hour. They had traveled at full speed through the forest towards their destination. There had been little to no conversation between anyone in the group, as they were under war time conditions. That meant no unnecessary talking.

"Kakashi, there is a person a short distance ahead of us," Neji said.

"What's he look like?" Kakashi asked.

"The only thing I can tell is that he's wearing a mask and black hooded coat, and he's using...Zabuza Momochi's sword. He's somehow able to block my vision. I can't see past the mask or the coat."

Kakashi looked back at Sakura, whose expression change drastically. Her face went from a determined ninja to someone lost in her own memories. "I see. He's just standing there correct?"

"Yes. It's like he's waiting for us."

"Interesting. Might as well see what he wants."

"Kakashi, is that wise? Wouldn't it be best to subdue him first?" Gai asked.

"He's already gone through the trouble of waiting for us. I'd like to hear what he has to say first," Kakashi replied. He picked up speed, and in turn, so did everyone else.

**With Naruto**

Naruto stood and waited. He knew Kakashi's group had already seen him and were on the way. Actually, they were about to arrive at his position now. Naruto only had to wait another minute before Kakashi appeared on the branch closest to him.

"You can call the others out, Kakashi. I know they're there."

"Well, I didn't think that would work anyhow," Kakashi replied, waving his hand and telling the others to come out.

Naruto's old friends appeared all around him. He smirked under his mask. Naruto was enjoying the fact that no one knew who he was right now. "I suppose I'll get straight to the point then. I ran into a young Hyuga girl the other day who was in a bit of trouble." Naruto noticed the expressions on everyone's faces change.

"What did you do to Hinata?" Kiba yelled, unable to contain himself any longer.

"Shut up, dog boy, and let me finish," Naruto replied in a neutral tone. "For one, I didn't do anything to her other than save her. She's currently resting at a cave about four miles north west of here. Now I have things I need..." Naruto was cut off by a question from Kakashi.

"Why would you do this for someone you don't know?" Kakashi asked.

"Well, I'll answer your question with another question. How do you know I don't know her?" Naruto noticed everyone's expressions and posture change. "Anyhow, I'm very busy right now, and I should be getting back to what I was doing"

"Wait! Who are you?" Kakashi asked.

"You already have my answer to that, Kakashi."

"You realize we can't just let you leave," Kurenai said suddenly.

Naruto sighed. "I had a feeling you might not let me leave." Naruto smiled under his mask as he thought about having a little fun with everyone. Naruto jumped straight up and landed on the top of the canopy of trees. His hands went through several hand seals before Kakashi's group appeared on top of the trees with him. **"Mokuton: Binding Trees"** Tree branches shot up and latched on to everyone before they could react. "Like I said I have other things I need to do." Naruto chuckled the expressions on everyone's faces was rather comical. Naruto disappeared in a miniature tornado after looking at their expressions one last time.

No more than a few seconds had passed before everyone, save Ino and Shikamaru, broke out of their bonds. Without even a word as to what had just happened, Kakashi and Gai went over and released Ino and Shikamaru.

"Well, that was eventful," Kakashi said, breaking the silence. Kakashi looked over at Neji, who looked rather concerned about a certain bit of information.

"What do you think, Kakashi?" Gai asked.

"For now, let's just make sure he wasn't lying about Hinata. We can talk about the other things once we're at the fortress." Everyone nodded, and took off in the direction the masked individual had sent them.

**With Hinata**

It had been a few hours now since Naruto had left, and Hinata was wondering where he had run off to. He had said a few hours, and that had already come and gone. She suddenly heard a footsteps coming from the entrance off the cave. "Welcome back, Naru...Neji?" Hinata had caught herself before finishing Naruto's name. "What are you doing here?"

Neji had caught what Hinata was saying before she said his name. However, he decided it was best not to say anything right now. "That's the very question I wanted to ask you."

….

Naruto stood a good distance from the cave, watching. "Well, now I don't have to worry about her following me and getting hurt." Naruto didn't think Hinata was weak, it's just that if she got hurt because of what he was about to do, he couldn't forgive himself.

In a cloud of smoke, Byakko appeared. He looked in the direction Naruto was looking. "Sending Hinata home, are we?" Naruto didn't answer him. "I wonder, would you do that to your other friends, or just her?" Naruto still didn't answer. _'Well, I suppose that's what happens when you spend most of two days with someone of the opposite sex,'_ Byakko thought. He had to admit, Hinata was very attractive for a human female, not to mention a very kind one as well. Byakko also had to admit Hinata would balance out Naruto very well if they ever got together.

"And I thought I could be annoying," Naruto finally replied.

"It's only annoying to you because I speak the truth. You just don't want to admit it."

Naruto grumbled. Byakko was almost always right, and in this case, he was. Over the past two days that he had spent with Hinata, he had really come to like her. He would have probably come to this little realization years ago if he had bothered to talk with her a little more. Not to mention she didn't hit him for saying something stupid; she laughed instead. "Can we just talk about something else?"

"Fine, fine. I don't even know why I give you advice. It's not like you ever listen to it, anyway." Byakko noticed the group was leaving the cave. "Well, at least my mate likes her."

"Really? She hates humans. I mean, when she saw me with Hiroki on my head for the first time, she tried to bite my head off."

"Yeah, that was amusing." Byakko sounded truly amused as he remembered that little event.

"You're such a jackass sometimes. You know that?"

"So I've been told," Byakko replied, completely unaffected by Naruto's words.

"Looks like they're leaving. We should do the same," Naruto said as he watched his friends leave the cave. Naruto jumped off the top of the tree and into the forest.

"True. It does us no good to just stand around here." Byakko did the same and followed after Naruto.

**Several hours later**

Kakashi's battle group had just arrived at the fortress. They had all just finished with getting through the gate, as everyone had to be checked before being allowed to enter.

"You can all have some time to yourselves before you need to start your duties here," Kakashi said. Everyone quickly began to disperse. "Hinata, before you go, there are some things I need to ask you about." Everyone paused for a moment before getting a look from Kakashi that said 'go', and they left.

As soon as everyone was gone an ANBU appeared in front of Kakashi. "Kakashi Hatake. I've been informed that you are to be in command of this place upon your arrival."

"I see. Very well. I'll be with you shortly," Kakashi replied.

The ANBU disappeared once receiving Kakashi's reply.

There was a short silence before either of them said anything. "What happened, Hinata?" Kakashi asked.

Hinata's eyes shifted to the ground. "My mission was to find and eliminate the Kumo ninja that were behind our lines," Hinata began to explain. "The mission went well and within the first day after receiving the mission we found them. We attacked and killed most within the first few seconds and all the others fell quickly. However, we didn't account for the two-tailed container, Yugito Nii. My team fought but she was just too much for us. What was left of my team stayed behind and allowed me time to try and escape after we knew we weren't going to be able to win. I didn't get far before she caught up. When I thought I was about to be captured, _he_ showed up." Hinata put emphasis on the word 'he'.

Kakashi had caught the change in tone in Hinata's voice. "Do you know who _he_ is?"

"I never saw his face," she lied. Hinata was very good at trying to hide her emotions when she answered questions, and if it was any normal ninja, they wouldn't have been able to tell that she was lying. However, Kakashi was very good at reading people. He wasn't, however, going to press the issue with her.

"I see. Well go get some rest." Kakashi formed a hand seal and disappeared in a swirl of leaves.

Hinata sighed, walking off towards the barracks. About ten minutes later, she found herself sitting on top of the barracks, her hands wrapped around her knees, just starring off into the setting sun. She felt a presence behind her. "Need something, Neji-nii?" she asked, not turning around to address him.

"It was Naruto, wasn't it?" he asked.

"I guess I let it slip back in the cave, didn't I?" she asked.

"You did," he replied.

"You don't sound surprised that he's alive."

"Well, we only found a head band. I couldn't believe he was dead with just that bit of evidence."

"Well, that answers the suspicions I had about the man we met earlier," said a familiar voice from behind Hinata and Neji.

Hinata and Neji look behind them to see Shikamaru standing there, looking like his lazy self.

"So, you didn't think he was dead either?" Neji asked.

"Naruto, dead? Hell will probably freeze over first, and it would probably happen because of him," Shikamaru replied.

Neji cracked a small smile at that. "Probably. So Hinata, did you tell him?"

"I tried, but the words just wouldn't come out of my mouth no matter how many times I tried," She replied to Neji's somewhat unspoken question. "Are you going to tell everyone?"

"Nah. That would be too much work, and cause me far too much trouble. I'll just wait for Naruto to come back. Which, if I'm correct, should be fairly soon, in light of what has just happened." Shikamaru sighed. "Well, I'd best be going Kakashi wants me to do something rather troublesome." Shikamaru made a hand-seal and disappeared in a swirl of leaves.

"Has he changed any?" Neji asked.

Hinata put her head into her knees, smiled, and blushed slightly. "He's matured a little, but other than that, not much at all."

"I see. Well, I should be going. I have things I need to do." Neji walked off to begin his duties.

Hinata just sat there, staring off into the sunset.

….

Kakashi stood in the command room with Gai looking out the window over the courtyard. Kakashi was waiting for the messenger hawk from the scouts that had been set out in the field a few days ago by the person in charge previously. The group that was sent out was supposed to send a messenger hawk back at the end of each day that they were out.

"What are you waiting for, Kakashi?" Gai asked.

The messenger hawk came into view just as Gai asked. "Ah, it's finally here," Kakashi said, ignoring Gai's question. The hawk landed on the perch, and Kakashi quickly detached the note from its leg. He opened the note. The note was written in code, but Kakashi could read it regardless. "So he was telling the truth."

"What are you talking about, Kakashi?"

"That man we met earlier today in the forest. I had met him before that day in the village. He told me Kumo had sent forces to siege this fortress, and this note confirms what he said. He knew the shadow clone jutsu."

"Only high ranking Jounin in our village know that jutsu, Kakashi," Gai said.

"I know that. However, there is one other who knows that jutsu. We never did manage to find a trace of his body."

"If it's Naruto, why didn't he just come back? And how can he use the Mokuton?"

"Those are very good questions, Gai. I suppose we'll find out the answers soon enough."

"He'll be tried as a rogue ninja. You know that, right?"

Kakashi nodded. "I know, and I'm sure if it's him, he knows that as well. Anyhow, tell everyone what's happening, and that they should get a lot of rest. We only have about a day before they arrive."

"Right," Gai said, leaving the room.

**A day and a half later...**

The Kumo ninja were mere hours away from their destination. They had met no resistance on their way to Konoha borders. Back in the day, they would have already been attacked, but it must have been true that Konoha was at their weakest. Either that, or the Konoha ninja were just waiting for them to get close and then strike, instead of doing it far away from their own base. A man named Darui was in charge of this operation. He was sitting on top of one of the massive bear summons, who was dragging the rather large siege equipment, along with the rest of its kind.

Darui sighed as he stared up at the clouds. "We would have been here days ago if we didn't have to drag this siege equipment."

"Darui, don't you think it's weird we haven't met with any resistance?" C asked. C was Darui's partner most of the time, but in this case, he was his second in command.

"Yeah, I've been thinking about that. I'm sure they're setting or have already set up traps up ahead. I've sent some men to scout for them."

A Kumo Jounin appeared next to Darui and C. "Sir, all the men you just sent ahead have been killed."

Darui raised an eyebrow at this. "Really? Hmm...What type of weapon was used?"

"Some were cut in half along, with trees they were near. I'm assuming it was done by a very large sword or bladed weapon," the man replied.

"What does this mean, Darui?" C asked.

"It means the Kyuubi Jinchuuriki is watching us," he replied

"And you're just going to sit here?" C yelled.

"What? You want me to go into the forest and search? If he really is here, he'll come to us," Darui replied somewhat lazily.

They came to a massive clearing. It was the only clearing from here until the actual fortress. There was a black figure standing in the middle of the clearing.

"Hey, Darui, look! There's someone over there!" C yelled. C was always far more serious than Darui, and this was just one of those times.

"Calm down, C. You always get so worked up over things," Darui, said waving C off. The dark-skinned man sat up and looked at the black figure. "Well, well, if it isn't Naruto Namikaze. I see the info Yugito brought us was accurate. C, use your sensor abilities to make sure that's who I think it is."

C quickly made hand-seals. A bead of sweat suddenly rolled off of C's forehead. "That man has an extraordinary amount of chakra. I don't even think Bee has that much."

"Well, that confirms who he is, I suppose." Darui stood up. "Prepare to engage the target!" he shouted to everyone. Darui formed hand-seals and disappeared.

….

Naruto looked up at the massive bear summons that were pulling the equally as massive siege equipment. "Well, this should be interesting." Naruto's eyes narrowed he quickly pulled out his sword and blocked a blow from Darui.

"You must be Naruto Namikaze, am I right?" Darui asked as their swords were still intertwined. "Names Darui."

"Congratulations, you got it on the first try! Well...I guess I don't need this anymore, then." Naruto removed the mask from his face with his free hand, and tossed it to the side. "I'd like you to meet some friends of mine." Three massive clouds of smoke appeared behind Naruto.

Darui jumped back to avoid anything that may happen. When the smoke dissipated, he saw three massive tigers. One was black and white striped, and was clad in a silver colored plated armor. The tiger had spiked shoulder pads and a head piece, along with metal claws over his normal ones. There were also plates of metal going down the length of the tail. Two other tigers that were just as massive stood behind beside the one in silver armor. One was all black, from what Darui could tell, while the other was a dark gray color. The two were clad in similar armor.

"Go make some noise, guys," Naruto said in a neutral tone.

"I thought I'd never get any action!" the black one yelled and charged the largest bear summon. Byakko and his other brother merely sighed, and joined their over zealous sibling. Hundreds of shadow clones came out of the forest and joined the tiger summons.

"Well, it seems you were prepared for this," Darui said, calmly readying his weapon.

"I try," Naruto replied doing the same.

….

Hinata sat on top of the fortress, her Byakugan activated. She was scanning the area for Kumo ninja. That was her job right now, seeing as all the Hyuga were taking shifts. "Where are you, Naruto?" she mumbled. That's when she saw something at the very edge of her vision. It was three massive clouds of smoke. She saw three massive tigers as the smoke began to clear. "Naruto!" Hinata jumped over the wall and sped off into the forest.

Neji was, of course, not resting like he was supposed to, and instead, watching Hinata. When he saw her jump over the the wall and rush into the forest, his eyes widened. He jumped down to the ground where Kakashi was in a meeting. "Kakashi, Hinata just took off!" Neji said as he burst through the doors.

"What? Where did she go?"

"No idea where she was going, but I know the direction she went in," he replied.

"Dammit, after all the planning and traps we set up, she has to do something like this..." Kakashi rubbed his temples. "All right. The enemy is only a few hours away, but we can get there much more quickly, seeing as we're not dragging siege equipment along. Shikamaru, how many were reported in that group?"

"About six hundred," Shikamaru answered.

"And we only have about four hundred or so here. All right, I'll take half the garrison with me. Hinata already has a head start, and she's pretty quick these days. Gai, you're in charge while I'm gone."

"Leave it to me!" Gai shouted over-zealously.

"All right, let's go." Kakashi stormed out of them room. The garrison was already lined up. They knew there was a problem. "All right. Hinata Hyuga has, for some unknown reason, taken off. Half of you are coming with me," Kakashi stated as he pointed at one half of the garrison. They nodded in agreement. "Good. Let's go!" Kakashi commanded, jumping up and over the wall of the fortress.

….

Naruto and Darui clashed swords. There was nothing flashy or fancy about their moves. They merely clashed their swords, trying to gauge one another. They parried and dodged each other's moves while using their elements within their blades, making for a rather interesting show when the blades clashed, as sparks flew in all directions.

"Your clones and summons are creating quite a little war with my men. I'm interested in finding out how you summoned those tigers without hand-seals," Darui stated as he did a downward swing with his sword.

Naruto batted the cleaver to the side with his own weapon. "Well, you'll have to beat me if you want to find that out. However, I'll show you something else interesting that isn't in your books about me." Naruto jumped back, stabbed his sword into the ground, and started performing hand-seals very rapidly. "This is something I made myself, and I'm quite proud of it." **"Mokuton: Great upheaval!"** Naruto exclaimed, smashing his hands into the ground. The ground began to shake violently. Massive roots shot out of the ground, tearing it apart. The massive roots went straight for the siege weapons and ripped through them. The tigers saw it at the last moment, along with the other summons, and jumped to the sides.

"Naruto!" Byakko roared as he smashed a bear summon in the face with his plated tail, knocking it to the side. "How many times have I told you about giving fair warning!"

"Whoops! Looks like I made him a little upset," Naruto muttered as he grabbed his sword.

"I have to say, that _is_ interesting, considering that there shouldn't be anybody left with the ability to use that type of jutsu," Darui said, trying not to sound impressed. "Although you managed to take out about half your clones at the time same."

"Yeah, well, they're just cannon fodder anyhow." Naruto disappeared, only to reappear in front of Darui, making a downward chop with his sword.

Darui dodged to the right. However, Naruto stayed with him and thrust his palm at the man's midsection. The palm thrust, however, didn't make contact either, as Darui barely managed to dodge that as well. The ground in front of the palm strike exploded. Darui got some distance in between himself and Naruto. He found a few of his ribs were broken once he came to a stop. '_What was that? A highly concentrated burst of air? I would have either died or been really hurt if I got hit dead on by that,' _he thought.

Both Naruto and Darui looked at the tigers summons to see that they had won the battle with the bears. The bear summons left in defeat. "Naruto, we have done our part. The rest is up to you. Don't get yourself killed," Byakko's booming voice rang over the battle as he and his brothers disappeared in massive smoke clouds.

"Let's continue, shall we?" Naruto asked charging his opponent.

"**Ranton: Reizā Sākasu!" (Storm Release: Encouraging Crushing Chain Tormenting Principle)** Darui yelled after quickly running through the required hand-seals. Several beams of light shot forward at Naruto.

Naruto quickly formed a few hand-seals. **"Mokuton: Jukai Heki!" (Wood Release: World of Trees Wall)** A massive wall of what looked like intertwining trees exploded from the ground in front of Naruto. Naruto performed several more hand-seals in rapid succession and smashed his hands into the wooden wall. **"Wood Release: Forest Tsunami!"** The wooden wall seemed to bend downwards like a wave of water at Darui. When the wave of intertwined trees hit, they went everywhere, like when a wave of water hits the ground.

Darui electrified his sword and hacked away at the onslaught of trees that came at him.

Naruto looked at his handy work. The sight before him was like a wave of water stuck in mid motion. "I hope I didn't kill him just yet." Suddenly, a massive beam shot out of wooden wave and struck Naruto in the chest, sending him flying into the trees. Naruto stood up couching up blood. "Damn, if I hadn't made a plate of armor out of extremely compressed wood ,that might have put a pretty big hole in me. Still managed to shatter half my rib cage though." Naruto held up his hand and his Sword returned to it. He saw the man he had been fighting burst out the top of the wooden wave, landing on the ground in front of it. "Well...it seems I'm the only one who got hurt out of that exchange." The cracks in his wooden armor healed when Naruto pushed chakra into the chest piece. What remained of the Kumo forces which, was still a bit more than half, started appearing behind Darui.

Naruto took a deep breath, securing his sword to his back before darting forward, directly at the enemy ninja. Naruto went through fifteen hand-seals. **"Wind Release: Cyclones!" **Naruto clapped his hands together. Massive cyclones dropped out of the sky, almost on top of the enemy ninja, scattering many, and mangling some, while tearing up the ground and throwing chunks of earth and wood everywhere. When the cyclones finally died down, the battle field was in utter devastation. "Lets take this up another notch," Naruto said to himself. There was an explosion of power, as Naruto went from zero to four tails.

Darui stood breathing heavily, as he had barely managed not to get crushed with that last jutsu Naruto had used. His second in command stood beside him. "C, we're returning."

"After getting here, we're just going to run away?"

"We've lost more than half our forces and our siege weapons, and I'm sure from this display, the garrison form Konoha is on their way. Not to mention, that kid is still ready for more. Sound the retreat," Darui explained.

Naruto dropped the Kyuubi's power once he saw they were retreating. Once he saw they were gone, he just fell backwards and hit the ground. "Thank Kami. I wasn't sure if my body could keep going like that," he said, now breathing heavily. "I think I'll take a nap now."

A few minutes later, Hinata landed in what was left of the clearing. She stopped breathing for a second when saw what could be called ground zero. She had seen this on the way in, but it was different being close to it. She quickly scanned the area with her Byakugan, as she had lost sight of Naruto before arriving. About ten seconds later, she found him. She ran over to him to make sure he was alright. Aside from having half his rib cage in shambles, he was fine. She sat down beside him and put his head on her lap. _'Is this why you had me taken home, Naruto?'_ Hinata wondered, looking at all the damage done to the area.

About a minute later hundreds of leaf ninja started appearing all around Hinata. They were all thrown aback by the sheer amount of damage done too the area. However, what got most of their attention was the fact there was a supposedly dead person unconscious on the ground.

Hinata's friends quickly moved people to the side as they made their way through the crowd to check on her. However, when they finally made it through, they just stared at who was laying on the ground in front of them.

"Naruto?" Sakura asked, her eyes wide and fixed on the man in question.

* * *

A/N So, whatcha think?


	7. Nothing is by Accident

**Chapter 7**

Nothing is by Accident

A sat in his office. His troops, or what was left of them, had arrived about a day ago. The one he considered his right hand man, Darui, had apologized repeatedly for his failure. Of course, A thought of it as his own fault for not sending Bee along with them. A looked at the hole in the wall that he had made after having lost his temper yesterday. Of course, one of the last people he wanted to see right now walked through said hole in the wall.

"Yo!" Bee shouted with a wave of his hand as he entered the room.

"Go away, Bee. I'm not in the mood for your crap," A growled.

"Oh come on, Bro, don't be like that," Bee replied as he took a seat in one of the chairs in his brother's office.

The door to the Raikage's opened without so much as a knock, and in walked the Daimyo of the Land of Lightning.

"And that is the last person I wanted to see," A mumbled. "What brings you here, oh leader of the nation?" A asked rather sarcastically.

The Daimyo walked into the room and sat down. "Oh, just the fact that you decided to attack the Land of Fire without my consent. Yes, I know, I received a message of what was going on, but I never responded."

A grumbled. This was how the Daimyo of the Land of Lightning always acted. When he wasn't sure of an outcome, he would wait and watch and then deal with damage control if there was the need. "I see. Learned how to run a nation from your father, did you?"

"Yes well I'll just get to the point. You will cease and desist any further hostile actions against Konoha and the Land of Fire. I have already sent messages to the Daimyo and Konoha that any damages incurred will be payed for by this nation."

"I see. And you couldn't have just sent me a message?"

"You would have probably killed him like the last one that brought you bad news."

"He told you, bro!" Bee laughed.

A grabbed a paper weight and chucked it at, Bee nailing him in the head. "Shut up, you idiot!" A shouted.

"Why do you always have to be so violent?" Bee mumbled as he got off the ground.

The Daimyo stood. "I'd best be going, seeing as I have more than just this to do today."

A watched the Daimyo leave. He was irritated at what the man had said. The fact was, A was the Kage of the village, while the Daimyo was the leader of the nation that it resided in, and therefore, had the final say in matter of war and things of that nature. There was nothing more he could do other than comply with the man's wishes. A could kill him, but that would just bring far too many problems.

A slammed his fist against his desk "I really hate that man!" he said, grinding his teeth. A knew many would not accept this, especially in light of what happened a few days ago. He calmed himself before speaking too Bee. "Inform the council that there will be a meeting in a few hours, Bee."

"Sure, Bro," he replied, quickly leaving through the hole his brother had made earlier.

A sank back into his chair. This whole ordeal with the Leaf was humiliating. However, one day he'd get that brat back for this insult.

**In Konoha**

Naruto opened his eyes to find himself in a hospital bed. _'I wonder how long I've been out.' _Naruto's eyes shifted around the room. _'Well, five ANBU hidden in the room, and I'm sure there are more outside in the hall and on the side of the building outside.' _Naruto sat up slowly, so as to not freak out the local ANBU. Although he found sitting up to be difficult. He looked down to find a rather massive mop of indigo colored hair on his bed. Naruto caught the ANBU out of the corner of his eye beginning to move. They were probably preparing just in case something happened. "Seriously, you guys can stop hiding. I know you're there." Naruto didn't get a response of any kind from them.

Hinata shifted and groaned. She slowly sat up and rubbed the sleep from her eyes. She blinked a few times to allow her eyes to adjust too the lighting in the room. She looked over at Naruto to see him staring back at her.

"Have a nice nap?" Naruto asked her. A rosy tint crept across Hinata's cheeks. Naruto didn't notice as his eyes looked towards the window "So, how long have I been out?"

"You've been out for about three days now." Hinata's eyes shifted a little as she sat up in her chair.

"It's all right, Hinata. I know there are ANBU in and outside of the room. I asked them to kindly show themselves and all, but I guess they're deaf or something." Naruto looked at the empty room. "I half expected to see some of the others here."

"They visited a few times, but they're all pretty busy these days." she said fixing her hair. "No one was really sure when you'd wake up, though."

"So you're not busy right now?" he asked.

"I took a few days off, actually, seeing as I haven't in about a year." She had, of course, taken said time off to stay with Naruto.

"I thought you'd be somewhere other than here."

"I don't really have anywhere else to be," she said softly. "Well, nowhere else more important," she whispered. The fact was, Hinata was summoned by her father and clan, but she was ignoring them.

Naruto didn't quite catch what Hinata had said, but he was happy she was here. "So, three days?"

"Yeah. You were out cold when we found you."

"I really did overdo it a little with the jutsu I used. I was really drained after that last one." Naruto looked at what he was wearing. "Umm...mind telling me where my clothes are?"

"Oh, I had them cleaned a few days ago. Let me get them for you," Hinata said as he got out of her chair and walked across the room. She opened a drawer and retrieved Naruto's clothes. She had taken the liberty in repairing them for him. "I had your clothes fixed," Hinata said as she handed Naruto his clothes.

Naruto looked at his clothes and the lack of damage to them. "Thanks, Hinata, you're the best!" Naruto had a big smile on his face.

What Naruto had said made Hinata ecstatic. She was now sporting a smile on her face, along with her ever growing blush.

Naruto threw his feet over the side of the bed opposite to Hinata and proceeded to put his clothes on. Just before Naruto put his pants on, he looked at the ANBU that was camouflaged against the wall in front of him. "Would you mind moving?" Naruto watched as the camouflaged ANBU moved without dropping his camouflage. "Thank you," Naruto said as he put on his pants.

Hinata and turned around the second she realized Naruto was going to put his clothes on.

In about a minute, Naruto was fully dressed. Naruto turned to see Hinata turned the other way. "Hinata, I'm dressed. You can turn back around." Hinata turned around to see Naruto fully dressed just like the last time she saw him at the cave. "Why did you turn around? I mean it's not like I haven't seen you..." all the sudden the words wouldn't leave Naruto's mouth as images flashed in his mind. Naruto suddenly noticed that every ANBU in the room was glaring holes in him. They had also probably fantasied about her once or twice.

Hinata's face had also gone a little redder as she to also thought about it. "Well...I...ah...didn't want to be rude or anything," she finally replied. Hinata was about to say something to Naruto, but the door to the room opened and an ANBU captain walked in.

"I've been sent to inform Hinata Hyuga that the council wished to speak with Naruto Namikaze when he awakes. However, I see he is already awake." The ANBU held up his hand telling the others to drop the camouflage. "Naruto Namikaze if you would follow me to the council chambers."

"I can't just take myself there can I?" Naruto asked, a big smile on his face.

"I'm afraid not," the ANBU replied.

"Well I guess we'd better get going, then. I can't wait to see what everyone has to say." Naruto was f course being rather sarcastic. he started to walk out of the room, when he noticed Hinata wasn't following. He turned around and looked at Hinata. "Coming, Hinata?"

"Sure!" Hinata replied, and followed him out of the room.

Naruto and Hinata left the room followed by several ANBU. They walked down the halls. Naruto received odd looks stares, and a few people even did double takes. The group finally made it out of the hospital, and immediately took to the rooftops towards the council building.

"Sooo Hinata, Want to spar with me sometime when I'm not in jail?" Naruto asked nonchalantly.

Hinata's lips curled up slightly as a small smile appeared. "I'd like that," she replied. Hinata was really happy that Naruto invited her to spar with him.

The group soon reached the council building. ANBU stood all around said building. They were, of course, guarding to make sure no one entered unannounced or without permission. The group entered without the need of a word to the guards. Part of Naruto's ANBU escort branched off and left them as they walked through the corridors towards the main room of the building. They came into view of the main doors to the council chambers themselves, and saw Jiraiya standing there, leaned up against the wall, eyes closed. It looked as if he was waiting for things to finish.

"Yo, Pervy Sage, whatcha up to?" Naruto asked as they walked ever closer to the door.

Jiraiya's eyes popped open only one person called him that. "Well, Naruto, seems you're finally up and about." Jiraiya walked over to them. "Glad to see you were alive all these years."

"Yeah, well, I'm not that easy to get rid of," Naruto replied with a big grin on his face.

"Well, you did chase me around the village until I agreed to train you that one time, so I'd have to agree with that." Old memories of a young Naruto chasing Jiraiya around Konoha, demanding that he train him, flashed in his mind as he looked at a now much older Naruto. "Well, I shouldn't keep you from that mess in there," Jiraiya said, pointing to the door behind him.

….

"You can't seriously drop all charges against the boy," Danzou spoke, objecting to Tsunade's proposal.

Currently, the clan heads and several Jounin, as well as the three elders made up the council for this particular discussion. Of course, the main topic was the fact Naruto was still alive and could use Mokuton ninjutsu. Tsunade wanted to acquit Naruto of all charges that are currently levied against him. Many in the room hadn't actually said anything on the matter yet.

"Then what do you propose, Danzou?" Shibi Aburame asked. The Aburame didn't speak without reason or cause, so when they spoke, what they had to say was not taken lightly.

"First, Naruto should be interrogated as to where he's been for the past few years. Then we need to learn where and how he learned the Mokuton, which of course would come up in the interrogation. Then we need to lo..."

"Yeah...how about no...mister cripple guy," came a voice from the doorway. Everyone looked to see Naruto standing in a now open doorway. He was wearing the clothes he came in with, just patched up. "What? Is there something on my face?" he asked after nothing was said for a few minutes. "Now, do tell me what my crimes are before you start deciding my fate all on your own." Naruto was directing his words directly at Danzou. Naruto noticed that he knew quite a few of the people in the room. Most of the Jounin in the room were ones that he had dealt with in the past.

"Very well," Danzou replied. "You are charged with abandoning the village. This is a grave charge that is not taken lightly. Now how do you plead?"

"Well obviously, I'm guilty. I did leave," Naruto replied. "The funeral was quite touching. I was rather surprised so many showed."

Many were now staring at Naruto wide-eyed.

"You were here during that time?" Koharu asked.

"Yeah, well, the old man thought it was best that I choose what I should do then and there. I chose to accept his training, and we left shortly after I picked up a picture from my apartment." Naruto looked at them and answered the unspoken question. "No I won't tell you who he is or where he is. Also, you won't find out through interrogation, seeing as Ibiki doesn't scare me and Inoichi probably isn't going to risk a waltz through my mind, all things considering."

Shikaku Nara stood from his seat. "When it comes to clans, one does not need to tell the council how or where he learned a specific jutsu. Seeing as Naruto is indeed an Uzumaki by blood on his mother's side, this applies to him. Also, while his father may have not been from a clan he didn't discuss or tell us how he created the jutsu he had made. Now, on the matter of Naruto's leave from the village. He did indeed come back after taking some training from an unknown individual, who seems to know the First Hokage's jutsu, and has somehow been able to teach it to Naruto..." Shikaku was cut off by a rather irritated blonde Hokage.

"Get to the point, Shikaku," Tsunade stated rather irritated. Tsunade knew once Shikaku got going, it would be a while before he stopped.

Shikaku cleared his throat. "What I mean is, I don't see a point in charging Naruto with any crimes or laying on any punishment, in light of recent events."

"How does everyone else feel on the matter?" Tsunade asked, wanting a general consensus on the matter.

"I don't think any of us object," Kakashi said lazily.

Tsunade waited, but no one objected to what Kakashi had said. She looked at her so called advisers. The three of them looked irritated. Before Tsunade could say anything, however, an ANBU appeared next to Tsunade with a message. Tsunade quickly read over the message. "Well, that's unexpected." She quickly crumbled the note and tossed it in the trash. "Well, it seems Kumo will no longer be taking any military actions against our ninja, as per the orders of the Daimyo of the Land of Lightning. Also, all damages incurred will be payed for back to the beginning of last year."

Heads shifted and whispered talks were heard throughout the room. This turn of events was quite unexpected.

"Well, now that that bit of interesting and good news is out of the way. Naruto, for the time being, you will be confined to the village. I'm not exactly sure how long that will be, seeing as you left for over three years and led us to believe you were dead." Tsunade sounded extremely agitated.

Naruto flinched at the sound of her voice. _'Wow, I think she's really mad at me...'_ Naruto thought. Seeing as Tsunade said he could leave Naruto did just that and started to walk out of the room.

Tsunade pulled out a set of keys. She looked at them for a moment before calling out to Naruto, "Naruto, catch." Tsunade tossed Naruto the set of keys.

Naruto turned to his side and caught the keys. He looked at them for a second. "What are these?" he asked, holding the keys by two fingers in the air.

"It's the keys to your house, well, your parents' former home, to be exact. I wasn't sure what to do with the place, so it's just sat there for years. I'm honestly not sure what kind of shape it's in, although I'm sure Sarutobi had someone keep up the property."

Naruto looked at the keys. There was a little piece on the key chain that had an address on it. "Well, I guess I can't just not check it out." Naruto turned and walked out of the door.

"Well, I think we can adjourn in light of recent events," Tsunade spoke dismissing everyone.

Everyone quickly picked up the documents in front of them before heading towards the door. The clan heads left first, as it was proper etiquette to allow them to exit first when meetings were over. The Jounin followed shortly after. Once they were gone, only four people remained in the room.

Tsunade leaned back in her chair. "Well, you three let that go rather easily. That's really not like any of you," she commented nonchalantly after everyone else was gone.

Danzou stood slowly from his seat. "I know when I've been beaten, and I saw no point in trying to stress an issue that would not be heard." Danzou walked towards the door but stopped shortly after. "The boy was dangerous the day he was born. That creature cannot be controlled without the Sharingan. Naruto may have learned a great deal and done the impossible in a sense, but even he cannot control that fox, and when it's finally able to take control, you will all see that the boy should have been given to me for training," Danzou informed Tsunade before walking out of the room.

Koharu sighed. "In a way he's right Tsunade. The Kyuubi has never been sealed in a living person before like the other Bijuu. We really don't know what that creature is capable of. It could be that somebody close to him dieing would allow the beast to take control." Koharu spoke the truth. No one knew what the fox was capable, of even though he was sealed away.

"You three just need to have a little bit of faith in Naruto," Tsunade commented.

"Tsunade, the three of us have lived a long time, and we cannot just put our faith in someone so young so easily, even if he truly is Minato's son."

"Sorry, but I'd have to agree with my wife." Everyone looked to see Jiraiya standing in the doorway. "You three just need to have a little faith. He may be young, and he may not be the most emotionally stable person after all he's had to deal with, but Naruto's the type of person that can make the impossible possible. He can make people believe in him for no conceivable reason."

….

Naruto walked down the streets of Konoha. His hands were placed on the back of his head, his elbows in the air, and a big smiled adorned his face. Hinata was walking besides him, her arms in front her, hands intertwined. She was looking to the side rather shyly, unsure of what to do or say as they walked towards the address on the key chain Naruto had.

After about half an hour of just walking to their destination, they came to a simple rod iron fence. The edge of it anyhow. The fence itself seemed to stretch on in one direction for quite a ways. Beyond the fence were rather large trees, blocking all view of what was actually inside the gated area. Naruto remembered he had been at this place once before when he was much younger. It was when he had done something wrong and the third Hokage wished to speak with him. The two had ended up walking by here but the old man never told him what this place was.

"The gate should be a little ways down here," Naruto said.

"You've been here before, Naruto-kun?" Hinata asked.

"Yeah, a while back when I glued a teacher to his chair. The Third Hokage was talking me about how I shouldn't do that kinda thing to people and we ended up here," he explained. After a few minutes, Naruto finally spotted the gate. "Ah, there it is."

They came to a large rod iron gate that looked much like the rest of the fence: rather old and weathered. Naruto pushed on the gates, and with a screech, they moved. There was a stone laid path cutting through the forest. They walked for a few minutes until they came to an opening and a rather large home. The home was a cross between the old-style home, like the Hyuga clan home, and one of the more modern homes in one of the newer parts of the village. There were a few smaller buildings that were connected to the main building. The buildings and the surrounding yard had definitely been kept up by someone.

"Shall we?" Naruto asked, a rather large smile on his face.

Hinata blushed. "Sure," she replied shyly. Hinata couldn't help but blush when Naruto smiled at her.

They walked up to the front, which had a pair of wooden doors. The doors had a pattern in the center of each of them, just like the one on Naruto's old orange jacket. He quickly opened the doors to find that they hadn't been opened in quite some time, seeing as they made a rather annoying screeching noise. The house had dust everywhere. It looked like it hadn't been opened since Naruto's parents had died. The downstairs had an open floor design. The two checked out the downstairs, going from room to room without so much as a word to one another.

Hinata hadn't really looked at the house. Most of her attention had been on Naruto and his reactions to what he was looking at. To her, he seemed a little lost as they looked at the down stairs. She wanted to say something to help him, but nothing would come out of her mouth. Hinata also noticed how he kept looking at things as if he was trying to imagine his parents there. "Naruto-kun, have you ever seen your parents before?"

"Well, I guess I know what my dad looks like, but I've never seen a picture of my mom before," he replied.

The two walked into the living room where Hinata spotted a dust covered picture. She walked over and cleaned it off. There was a tall blonde man with a big grin on his face, and a beautiful woman with long red hair who had a pleasant smile on her face. Hinata handed Naruto the picture. "She's beautiful, Naruto-kun," she commented.

Naruto stared at the picture intently. "Yeah, she was," he replied, almost in a trance.

Hinata heard a knock at the door, but when she looked at Naruto, he didn't seem to notice. She didn't bother him and walked out of the room to answer the first door. Hinata opened a door to see Jiraiya, Tsunade, and Shikamaru standing at the doorway, with Kushina in Tsunade's arms. "Oh Tsunade-sama, Jiraiya Shikamaru."

"Already playing house wife, are we Hinata?" Tsunade asked, a grin on her face.

Hinata shifted her feet a little and blushed. "No," she replied. _'Not yet, anyhow,'_ she thought.

"Here, take Kushina. She's been upset that you haven't come to play with her like you said you would," Tsunade spoke as she handed Hinata her daughter, then quickly walked by as soon as she had Kushina. Tsunade quickly made her way over to Naruto, who flinched when she put her arms around him. "Thank Kami you were alright." She hugged Naruto for a few moment before she let him go and began to strangle him.

Everyone but Kushina thought this scene was completely out of place.

"I swear to Kami, if you ever pull a stunt like that again, I'll kill you myself!" she yelled as her grip tightened around the young blond's throat.

"I'm...sorry...it...won't...happen...again," Naruto choked out as Tsunade violently shook him. She was choking him so hard, his face was literally turning blue.

"Why mommy kill Niichan?" Kushina asked.

"Because your "Niichan" can be very inconsiderate at times," Shikamaru commented, making air quotes. If Temari had heard the word "inconsiderate" come out of Shikamaru's mouth in such a way, she would have beaten him half to death with her fan, seeing as he was constantly inconsiderate to those around him.

Jiraiya sighed. He knew this was going to happen, at least something like this anyhow. "Hime, if you keep that up, you really will kill him," he spoke, trying to calm his wife.

Tsunade stopped what she was doing and blinked as she looked at a very blue and lifeless Naruto, whose throat she was grasping rather tightly. She had lost herself in her anger again. "Oops..." she mumbled as she released Naruto's neck.

Hinata rushed over to check on him. "Are you all right, Naruto-kun?"

Naruto rubbed his sore neck. "Yeah, kinda," he replied before coughing. Naruto noticed the small girl with long white hair in Hinata's arms. "Who's that, Hinata?" he asked, referring to the small child in her arms.

"Technically, she's your little sister, Naruto, seeing as I had already filled the adoption papers before you had left on your last mission," Tsunade commented.

Kushina reached out, touched Naruto's whisker marks, and giggled. "Niichan whiskers!" she squealed in delight as she touched them more.

Naruto sweat-dropped. Were his whisker marks that amusing to small children? Naruto was annoyed by the laughing being done by his adoptive mother. "Laugh it up, Baa-chan..."

"Oh, I will," she replied, continuing to laugh. She was very amused by the sight.

A hour came and went in the blink of an eye. Shizune had come and brought take-out, seeing as the kitchen was filled with dust and there was no food in it to cook. They were currently on the back porch area, eating and/or talking. Jiraiya, Tsunade, and Shizune were sitting at a small round table, eating. Naruto and Shikamaru were off talking away from everyone else, while Hinata was picking flowers with Kushina in the yard, which was filled with wild flowers of all kinds. There was also one rather large Sakura tree. The tree itself looked ancient.

"I heard you got married to Temari," Naruto commented, his gaze fixed on Hinata and Kushina.

"Yeah. Not sure how that happened..."

"Honestly, I thought you'd be the last one to get married. Especially to someone as volatile as her," Naruto stated, commenting on Shikamaru's choice in women.

"You know the saying, "like father, like son"? Well it's true, in a way, as both me and my dad fell for bossy, volatile women. So what about you, Naruto? You must have been around other people at one point. Find anyone?" Shikamaru was, of course, referring to the time Naruto and Hinata had spent alone.

"Nope, not yet," he replied. _'Although I'm kinda liking the quiet ones right now,'_ Naruto thought, looking at Hinata. She had never hit him for saying something wrong. She laughed when he said or did something stupid. Of course, Naruto, being who he was, didn't know many of the social cues people take for granted. One of them being affection, and another being able to tell when someone actually likes him. If Hinata had been able to just go out and say it, that would have made things so much easier for the both of them, seeing as both of them had their little quirks when it came to expressing themselves or knowing what they really want.

"I see," Shikamaru replied, noticing that Naruto was looking directly at Hinata.

Naruto felt a tugging on his coat. He looked down to see Kushina holding up some flowers to him. Naruto smiled and crouched down. "These for me?" he asked. Kushina had a wide smile on her face. She merely nodded to his question. "Thank you," he replied, taking the flowers and ruffling her hair a little.

Kushina giggled and hugged Naruto.

As Naruto was standing, Hiroki appeared on his head. _'Why...'_ Naruto thought, annoyed.

Everyone but Hinata stared at what was happening, seeing as she'd seen it a few times already and wasn't surprised.

"Kitty!" Kushina squealed in delight, holding out her hands, wanting to play with the tiger cub.

Naruto picked Hiroki off his head and smiled devilishly at him. "You want to see the kitty, Kushina?"

KITTY KITTY!" she screamed.

"Anything but that," Hiroki pleaded.

"Sorry, my little sister wants to play with you," Naruto replied evilly and placed him on the ground in front of her. She instantly latched onto him with all the strength in her little arms. Naruto couldn't help but laugh.

"That's so mean," Shikamaru commented as he watched Kushina drag Hiroki out to show Hinata.

"If you had him popping up all the time on top of your head, you'd want to get him back one day too," Naruto replied still highly amused with himself.

**Unknown location**

Madara sat on a cliff, drinking some tea. He was quite amused by the news Zetsu had delivered to him a short while ago. He didn't how the boy could have learned what was reported or even where he had been all this time. He smiled beneath his mask. This little plan was turning out far more interesting than he ever could have hoped for, simply because Naruto would actually be a challenge, something he hadn't had in a long time.

"You called for me?"

"Ah yes, Kisame. Inform Pein that we will begin to move shortly. I'm most interested in seeing young Naruto's power." Madara stood and stretched. "Soon, I may need you to cause a little destruction to draw young Naruto out so we can have a little chat."

A big toothy grin appeared on Kisame's face. "That, I can most certainly do." Kisame had been very bored for the past few years as Madara's organization had halted it's movements. He was most definitely pumped up for the chance to kill something.

"How is Itachi?" Madara asked, wondering if Itachi was up to anything.

"About the same as he always is," Kisame replied, hinting at the fact that there may or may not be something.

"Explain."

"I'm not sure how to explain, but he's definitely up to something."

"That man always is. That's why I had you put with him. I wanted you to watch him, however difficult that may be. Now go and inform Pein."

"Of course." Kisame disappeared from sight to do as directed.

"Come out, snake, I know you're there."

A laugh came from a near by tree. "Always an interesting one, aren't you, Madara?"

Madara turned to see Orochimaru half molded to a tree branch. "What do you want?"

"Straight to the point as always, I see. You're always so boring," Orochimaru replied.

"And you're not in your ideal body, seeing as it ran away," Madara shot back. The Uchiha had kept tabs on Orochimaru, as he was a rather troublesome individual.

Orochimaru ground his teeth in anger, as he was still not pleased with his own failure. "You're well informed as always."

"I am. Now get to the point of why you sought me out," Madara demanded, rather annoyed by the snake's voice.

Orochimaru smiled wide. "I have a proposal for you..."

**With Naruto**

Several hours had passed and the sun was starting to set. Everyone had departed Naruto's residence a few hours ago to give him time to look around his home. He had done just that, and looked around the upstairs of his home. Naruto had spent most of his time in his father's office, looking over the various reports and scrolls. In his search, he had found a sealed scroll that contained a diary and what seemed like many other important scrolls that he had yet to look at. He just sealed them back up within the scroll, and stuffed it inside his coat.

Naruto was currently walking down the street alone, trying to find Ichiraku's. He had asked several people where the place was located and he got several different responses. The best one was when someone screamed about a ghost and fainted. However, he finally got an answer from an old man that told Naruto that they had moved to a larger place. "Should be somewhere around here," Naruto muttered to himself as he looked around the rather crowded street.

"Naruto?" came a feminine voice.

Naruto spun around around to see Ayame. "Hey! Ayame, long time no..." Ayame gave him a big hug. She was sniffling. "Are you crying?" Naruto asked, confused.

Ayame let go of him and rubbed her eyes with her sleeve before looking at him. "No, of course not. Now come on. I'm sure your looking for Ichiraku's," she spoke as she dragged him off towards the new restaurant.

They soon arrived and Naruto was amazed. "Wow, it's definitely bigger." Naruto was right. It was definitely bigger. They had quite a few tables in this place that fit far more than six.

"Come on, let me get you a table." Ayame quickly took Naruto near the back and sat him down in one of the booths. "I'll be right back."

Naruto looked around. Every table was sort of in their own separate room. There were no doors to these rooms. There were about ten rooms like his, and what looked like four more large rooms down a hallway.

Soon enough, Ayame was back with a menu in hand and Teuchi was with her.

"Hey old man! Nice place you got here."

"Thanks! Glad to see you weren't dead and all. Ayame was crying all the time back then."

"DAD!" Ayame yelled. "You were just as upset as I was!"

"Anyhow," Teuchi spoke, completely changing the subject of conversation. "Anything you want is on the house, Naruto. Now I should get back to cooking. Lots of people to cook for these days." Teuchi smiled and walked off.

Naruto picked up the menu. "Changed the name, I see." The name of the restaurant was now Ichiraku's Ramen and Barbeque.

"Yeah, Dad suddenly wanted to cook barbeque one day."

Naruto quickly scanned the menu and something at the bottom caught his eye. "The Naruto Challenge," he read off.

"Oh yeah, Dad wanted to do something to remember you by, so he took the most ramen you ever ate at one sitting and made a challenge out of it. Which is I think fifty bowls of ramen with the works."

Naruto smiled. "So, how many people have actually completed it?"

"Umm...actually none that I know of. Even Chouji, one of your friends, didn't finish it all in the half hour you did."

"How long did it take him?"

"I think he got through forty bowls and couldn't eat anymore. However, when he got to that point, it had already been thirty minutes."

Naruto smiled. "I'll just take my own challenge, then."

Ayame smiled. "It will be about an hour for it all to be ready."

"No problem." Naruto pulled out a scroll. "I have a lot of papers I have to go over that my father left me." As soon as Ayame left, Naruto opened the scroll and unsealed the contents.

….

"Man, that mission was so annoying I was hoping for just a simple escort mission, not to have to fight some ninja hired to kill him," Ino complained.

"Ino, it was an A ranked mission. There was a great chance we were going to run into them," Neji explained.

"I'm hungry," Chouji commented.

"Yeah, actually, I'm pretty hungry as well," Tenten added.

"Well, Ichiraku's is right over there. We might as well get something to eat before we report in," Ino spoke, pointing at the Ichiraku's building.

"Well I suppose we did return early, so it wouldn't hurt. Right, Neji-kun?"

Neji sighed. "Fine..." He knew 'no' wouldn't be an acceptable answer.

Chouji cheered and quickly headed towards the restaurant. Everyone followed after him, just not with as much enthusiasm. The group walked in to see Hinata, who seemed to have just arrived as well.

"Hinata, what are you doing here?" Ino asked.

Hinata turned to see her friends and cousin. "Oh, hi guys. Well, I really didn't feel like cooking for myself tonight."

"I mean, I'd thought you'd still be with Naruto like you were when we left," she replied.

Hinata blushed. "Oh umm...he woke up earlier today. He's probably at his house still looking at things." Just as Hinata finished, they were all distracted with the tremendous amounts of ramen that was being brought into one of the booths by Teuchi and Ayame.

"Looks like some poor fool is taking the challenge again," Neji commented

"Hey, Chouji-kun, didn't you take the challenge too?"

"Yeah," he replied. "I finished forty of the fifty bowls."

"I finished forty five..." Hinata whispered.

Everyone just stared at her. Everybody wondered how someone with Hinata's figure and overall size could possible eat that much. Ino was glaring at Hinata. She thought it just wasn't fair that Hinata could eat like that and look like she did.

"Well, might as well see which poor soul got in over his head this time," Tenten spoke, drawing the attention away from Hinata.

The group did just that, walking over to see who it is. Of course, everyone but Hinata was amazed and disgusted by who was there and how fast he was wolfing the food down.

Naruto was quickly wolfing down bowl after bowl of ramen. On his sixth bowl in about a few minutes, he noticed some of his friends were watching him. "Oh, hey guys!" Naruto spoke, his mouth full of ramen. He then went straight back to eating after his greeting.

Everyone watched as Naruto ate with one hand and read with the other. They didn't know what he was reading, and they really didn't care, as it was none of their business.

"Kami, how can he eat like that?" Ino spoke, her voice filled with amazement and disgust.

Naruto finished his fifteenth bowl of ramen already. "Well, you might as well sit down and order something."

"You're going to eat all that?" Tenten asked.

"I used to eat this much when I was twelve. I'll probably have some more after this," Naruto commented as he looked at a new piece of paper from the pile.

Ino turned a little green in the face. She had seen Chouji eat before, and that had never disgusted her, but seeing how fast Naruto was eating and claiming he was going to eat more than that just made her stomach churn.

Soon enough, though, everyone sat down. Ino and Tenten made Hinata set directly next to Naruto. Soon after they sat, Ayame came by and took their orders.

As everyone talked, Naruto did the same, but he was also reading his dad's notes that he had left behind. In many of the notes that he wrote during the war, he talked of an old man over and over. He even mentioned this old man helped him with his greatest jutsu. Of course, at first, Naruto considered that his dad was referring to the third Hokage. However, one letter, the one he left behind for Naruto, told him who the man was.

_Naruto, my son, I know sorry isn't enough to make up what I did to you. Well, I should start, as I have very little time left, and the shinigami has only allowed me fifteen minutes to put my affairs in order. You will be taken care of by the money in my bank account. When you reach the age of eighteen, or whenever you find out about your mother and I, you will then be given her account as well. The account is basically the collective wealth of the Whirlpool Village, which no longer exists. I'm sorry to say, your mother has already passed on. She was an amazing woman, and I hope one day you'll find someone just as amazing as her. She loved you very much, Naruto, and she was constantly counting down to when you'd be born._

_If there was any other way, Naruto, I wouldn't have sealed the fox in you. However, this was the only way to save the village in such a small amount of time. I didn't tell anyone this, Naruto, but there was a man controlling the fox. The man was Madara Uchiha. I didn't tell anyone because I knew telling everyone would only cause more problems than it would solve._

_I would have liked to have written more, but my time grows short. My notes mention an old man. He __had the eyes of the one whole started it all. I hope you will understand what I mean by that, as it is my hope you will have met him before you see this. He offered to take me on as his apprentice, but I couldn't accept. I couldn't leave the village behind, or your mother, who I was dating at the time._

There was more to the message, but Naruto put the piece of paper down after reading what he had. The entire time he was reading it, he had actually stopped eating. Everyone was also staring at him, wondering what was wrong.

"Something wrong Naruto-kun?" Hinata asked, rather concerned.

"Oh, no, nothing's wrong," he replied, but he was lying through his teeth. "It was just a letter my dad left me before he died." Naruto quickly went back to eating, shrugging what he read off to lighten the mood. It worked, as everyone started talking again. However, he knew now that none of what had happened was by accident.

* * *

A/N So, whatcha think?

I'm really glad to see how many people like this story so far and are taking the time to review. :)

Oh, right. I've start a poll much like the one Brown Phantom has, which is a poll to see who the top ten authors are.

I'd like to say something about the first part of this chapter. The Daimyo lead the country they set the rules and are the ones who agree to go to war and so on. A Kage or leader of a ninja village cannot actually declare war without the Daimyo's go ahead basically. The only reason the ninja village exists is because the Daimyo's allow it. That's basically how it is the the manga/anime. How they actually are able to enforce this is anyone's guess because it doesn't even seem like they have the power to at least in the anime/manga. So for this story and like most authors seem to do the daimyo's have large standing armies that are used to enforce the law and go to war and so on and so forth.

Okay, apparently, this got deleted from chapter 5 or 6, I really don't remember which. I said don't expect anything past the valley of the end fight to actually follow canon. Most characters will be in here, yes, but some of those little bombs of info Kishi dropped will not. For instance, there will be no Kyuubi Jinchuuriki before Naruto.

I must apologize for reposting this chapter. However, several people, including myself, got an error message when trying to view this chapter. So, I deleted and reposted, in hopes the problem will be solved.

On another note, several people have made suggestions for the poll for authors to be added. Of course, I checked their works before adding any of them, but I did add all names suggested. I, of course, don't know all the authors on this site, so do make suggestions if you have them.


	8. A Husband to Be? Part 1

**Chapter 8**

A Husband to Be?

Naruto and Neji were sparring in Naruto's backyard. Neji had come over to talk with Naruto, and they had somehow started sparring through the back yard. Naruto had been cooped up in the village for almost two weeks now, without much of anything at all to do other than train, spar, and talk with people he knew. He had seen more of Hinata in the past week than anyone else. She'd always stop by during the day and they would either spar or get lunch or something of that nature. That, of course, didn't go unnoticed by Naruto's friends, and obviously, Hinata's somewhat estranged family. However, despite what people thought, the two were still merely friends.

Naruto parried and dodged a few quick jabs from Neji. "So, what did you want Neji?" Naruto asked, retaliating with a few kicks and jabs of his own.

"Have you spoken with Hinata today?" Neji asked speeding up his assault, Naruto parrying and blocking every strike.

"No, not today, now that you mention it. She'd have normally come by the house by now."

"She hasn't told you then."

"Told me what?" Naruto asked as he pressed Neji back.

"Hinata's going on a trip today to meet her husband to be."

"What?" Naruto asked, zoning out completely. He was struck clean in the chest by one of Neji's palm strikes, sending him into the air and crashing into the ground. Naruto just laid there, flat on his back, eyes wide open.

Neji walked over to Naruto and look down at him. "You all right?"

"Yeah... Why didn't she say anything?" Naruto and Hinata had been talking a lot over the past two weeks, but she had never even hinted at anything like this.

"I really don't know."

Before Naruto could say anything else, an ANBU appeared besides them. "Naruto Namikaze, the Hokage wishes to speak with you."

"Tell her I'll be there in a little while."

The ANBU did a small bow before vanishing from sight in a cloud of smoke.

"Well, I'd best be going, then. I'm sure you'll want to go and get whatever it is over with," Neji said, helping Naruto off the ground.

Naruto brushed himself off. "Yeah, I guess. It's not like I have anything better to do these days."

"Well, thanks to you, many have been able to get some time off, having come back the way you did. It's been a year since most of us have been able to spend more than twelve hours home at a time," Neji explained. "I should get going myself. Tenten hinted to me it would be nice to go out and eat for a change."

Naruto chuckled. "She's got you by the balls!"

Neji glared at Naruto. "Just wait, Naruto. You'll find that special someone, and you'll be at her whim as well."

Naruto laughed a bit more before quieting down. "Anyhow, I'd better not keep Baachan waiting." Naruto's sword appeared in his hand. He quickly secured it to his back and disappeared in a swirl of leaves.

Tsunade sat at her desk. Sakura, Ino, and Chouji were standing in front of her. They were waiting for Naruto so they could receive their mission.

"Why are we waiting for Naruto?" Sakura asked. "I mean, isn't he stuck in the village for now?"

Tsunade sighed in exasperation. She had wanted to keep him in the village longer as a form of punishment, but there was a mission he had to go on. "He is, but this mission request says that he must attend." She picked up several mission requests from a small pile on her desk. "These are all requests for Naruto. They're mainly from Daimyo that he's met in the past. They don't even have real missions for him, save this one from the Land of Snow, who wishes for him to be a bodyguard for a few months while she finishes filming her new movie."

"Are you serious?" Ino asked. "Why would they want Naruto that much..."

Tsunade smiled as she remembered what became of her life since she met Naruto. "Well, like me, I'm sure he's helped them in one way or another that changed quite a few things in their lives," she explained. "Not to mention, I wouldn't even be here if it wasn't for him."

"So, whatcha need me for, mom?"

Everyone looked to see Naruto sitting on one of the windowsills, his sword on his back.

Tsunade smiled a little. She truly liked being called mom especially over what he normally used to call her. "You have a mission..."

"FINALLY!" Naruto yelled in triumph at finally being able to leave the village. Naruto jumped off the windowsill and started jumping around the room in excitement. "What's the mission? We going to save a princess?" Naruto asked excitedly.

"Calm down, Naruto," Sakura said, swatting him lightly on the back of the head.

Naruto rubbed the back of his head. "That hurt," he whined like a small child. "You're always so violent."

"And you're a massive pervert," she said in retort.

Sakura was referring to a few days ago when she finally went to go talk to Naruto.

**Flashback**

Sakura was making her way to Naruto's home. She'd finally figured out what to say to him. Sakura was, for the first few days, a little angry with Naruto for faking his own death. Even now, she was still perturbed with Naruto. Sakura arrived at the front gate. _'Wow, I never knew this place was so big,'_ she thought. Sakura had passed by this gate many times before but she thought about how long the gate stretched for, or what was actually behind it.

The gate creaked as it opened. Sakura slipped past the gate and looked at the winding path cutting through the woods. She could hear Naruto, and what sounded like Konohamaru, arguing about something. She couldn't hear specifically what the two of them were going on about, but she could hear something about jutsu.

Sakura finally came to an opening to see Naruto and Konohamaru yelling at one another.

"My jutsu's better! You just won't admit it!" Konohamaru yelled.

"Yeah right! You still can't do it right! Your proportions are way off!" Naruto shot back.

"What are you two arguing about?" Sakura asked.

"Oh, hey, Sakura. I was wondering when you'd drop by," Naruto said, looking her up and down. _'Wow, only like a small B-cup or something like that...'_ he thought, glancing at her chest, and noticing how small it was compared to Hinata's.

"People had told me you'd grown up, but I didn't think it was that much," she commented, somewhat amazed by how tall he'd gotten.

"Yep! I'm no longer the shorty I was!" Naruto stated proudly. "Hey, Sakura, I think you would be the best judge for the jutsu me and Konohamaru were arguing over!" Naruto said, as if he was having a revelation. "Now we'll see whose is better," Naruto declared, transforming into his newest Sexy Jutsu.

Of course, Konohamaru knew better, and didn't do it.

Sakura just stood there. You could see the rage building in her eyes. "What the hell is wrong with you, Naruto!" she yelled, suddenly punching Naruto. In a poof of smoke Naruto changed back. Sakura ran over to him grabbing him by the coat and began to shake him violently. "WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU! I come here to talk with you and apologize for back then! BUT NO! I find you playing pervert with Konohamaru like nothing happened! I can't believe you actually made me worry about you! I CAN'T BELIEVE I CRIED AT YOUR GRAVE!" She finished by punching him one last time and storming off.

Konohamaru crouched down, grabbed a stick, and poked Naruto in the face with it. "You okay?" he asked.

Naruto twitched a little, but that was about it.

**End flashback**

"What's our mission anyhow?" Ino asked.

"Your mission is A-ranked. You'll be escorting someone from the village to capital of the Land of Fire," Tsunade explained, handing Sakura the mission file. "This mission will take about a week at least, seeing as you'll be traveling by horse drawn carriage to your destination."

"Wait Lady Tsunade. It says here the Hyuga are paying for this mission," Sakura commented as she read over the file. "But don't they normally send their own people for something like this?"

"Normally yes. But the person that you'll be escorting isn't exactly on good terms with her own family, you see."

"Wait, you're talking about Hinata, aren't you?" Chouji asked, munching on some chips as he always seemed to do.

"Yes. This mission, as I said is an escort mission, and as I said, you're to escort her to the capital of the Land of Fire. Hiashi thought it best that I have people she knows escort her this time around instead of the main or branch families," Tsunade explained. "And it was also requested that Naruto attend by the Daimyo."

A knock on the door sounded.

"Ah, good, she's here," Tsunade said. "Come in!"

The door opened and Hinata walked into dressed in a simple yet elegant dark purple Kimono. Her long, indigo hair was in a single large braid thrown over her right shoulder. She also had a touch of makeup on her face, not that she really needed it.

"Wow," Naruto whispered, but it was still loud enough for everyone to hear. He was simply in awe over how she looked. Naruto didn't realize it, but he was staring at her, and everyone was looking at him. He just couldn't take his eyes off Hinata. She was drop dead gorgeous in that outfit with her hair done like that.

Tsunade cleared her throat grabbing everyone's attention. "First of all, Naruto wipe the drool from your mouth. It's embarrassing." Naruto wiped his face, and found that he was, in fact, drooling over Hinata. "Secondly, the five of you will leave in ten minutes. You'll have to be at the capital within two days, and with the way you're traveling, it will take about that long."

"What do you mean, the way we're traveling?" Naruto asked.

"Yes, I know what you're thinking. It only takes about five hours normally to get there, but Hinata will be traveling by a horse-drawn carriage, which as you can imagine, is really slow."

"I don't understand why we have to travel that way..."

"Naruto, in the world of high profile individuals, one doesn't do things the way they normally would. For instance, Hinata has to wear a Kimono and have her hair done up just like that until this whole ordeal is over and she's on her way back to the village. And one is expected to follow the traditions, meaning arriving in a certain manner, and dressing in one as well. Now, Naruto, I know you don't have a single bit of formal attire, expect for maybe that coat that looks like your father's, so I had Jiraiya pick up something for you."

"But I like the way I dress..." Naruto muttered.

"You'll wear it to the banquet and like it. Understood?"

"Hai..." Naruto replied rather dressed.

Tsunade smiled. "Good. Now the four of you pack quickly. Hinata and I will be waiting for you at the front gate.

The four shinobi quickly left the room to pack.

"Now, you see, Naruto loved the way you were dressed. He even drooled a bit," Tsunade commented with a small chuckle shortly after she knew the four were out of hearing range.

A small head popped out from behind the desk. "You marry Niichan!" Kushina shouted cutely, pointing at Hinata.

Hinata blushed as images of what that might be like flashed in her mind.

Tsunade put a hand on her daughters head. "Now now, Kushina, don't be so loud." Tsunade got off her chair and walked over to Hinata. "Don't worry. I'm sure he'll do something sooner or later. Preferably sooner than later, considering your time frame."

Hinata smiled sadly. "Every time it seems like we're getting a little closer, he distances himself from me and everyone else. He does it in small ways, but I can tell. He normally changes the topic of the conversation, or he'll stop our sparring and say he's hungry and walk off."

Tsunade sighed sadly. "That could be any number of things with him, Hinata. For one, we don't know what he's been through in the past few years. Not to mention, he's hated by quite a few people. I'm sure he didn't make any friends with Kumo either. Then there's the Akatsuki. They want the tailed beasts for Kami knows what reason, and because of those kinds of things, I'm sure he's got it in his head that he can't get close to anyone without fear of losing them. Minato was the same way around Kushina and his friends for a while during the war. The people out to get you always go for the ones closest, that's all there is to it. Now don't worry to much about it. Everything will work out as it should." Tsunade gave Hinata a quick hug. "Now, let's get you all settled in the carriage." Tsunade and Hinata left the room with Kushina right behind them.

It wasn't long after Hinata was settled in the carriage that the others began to arrive back with their packs. The last one to arrive was Naruto. Neji had followed Naruto to see his cousin off. Both Neji and Naruto currently stood out of ear shot as Neji explained a few things to Naruto.

"Naruto. I want you to stay close to Hinata when you get to the capital," Neji explained.

"Who exactly is she going there to meet?" Naruto knew why they were going, he was just not sure who Hinata was going to see.

"The son of the Daimyo of the Land of Tea. Normally, she would only marry into a family of ninja, as to not produce inferior children." Neji sounded like he really hated what was going on with Hinata. "However, the Daimyo's family married into ninja a few generations ago, and if they were ever trained, they would actually make excellent ninja. At least, that's what the elders say." Neji sighed. "Anyhow, I don't trust the Daimyo's son. He's crude, and very disrespectful towards Hinata. Don't let her leave the range of your ears."

"Why is she even going through with it if he's that bad?"

"Because he's the only one who's around her age."

"Come on, Naruto! We gotta go!" Sakura stormed over, grabbed him by the ear, and dragged him off.

"Ow! That really hurts, Sakura!" Naruto whined.

"Stop your whining and get on!" she said, throwing Naruto by the ear onto the top of the carriage. Sakura stepped inside the carriage and they were off.

Chouji was up at the front, driving, while Ino and Sakura were inside with Hinata, and Naruto laid on the top. The carriage itself was nowhere near as fast as their normal travel speed.

...

A few hours passed without any issue, and they weren't even halfway to the Capital.

"Why do we have to travel this way?" Ino asked. "I mean, it's nice and all, but damn, is it slow! I mean, we could almost be there by now." Ino was of course, upset because it was far slower than her normal mode of travel. That, and the fact that she wanted to wear the kimono she had brought along with her.

"We all know you just want to try on that new kimono you just bought, Ino," Sakura replied.

"Shut up, forehead," Ino pouted.

Hinata laughed, which was what she needed right now. She was thankful that her friends were coming with her this time around. At least she could talk to them and not feel completely alone.

"So, you and Ino, huh?" Naruto asked.

Naruto and Chouji were sitting at the front of the carriage, steering and watching for anyone who would attack them.

"Yep," Chouji replied.

"How exactly did that happen? I mean, it's not like she couldn't get any guy she wanted with the way she looks." Naruto wasn't saying Chouji was ugly or anything. It was just that before he left, the two weren't exactly that friendly, not that he would have noticed back then. He was, and still is, pretty ignorant about some things.

Chouji chuckled. "Yeah, she's awesome. A bit bossy, but that's just Ino for you." Chouji thought about how it started. "Well, if anything, I have to thank you for it happening."

"Wha? I don't really understand how I'm to thank for that." Naruto was thoroughly confused by what Chouji said to him.

"Well, let's see. The day we came back without you, Ino was pretty depressed, and she came by to see me once I was awake. And after that, she just kept coming to see me, spending a great deal of time with me. Don't ask me what exactly was going through her mind during that time. I never could figure it out. About a month after the fact, I asked her out. To my and Shikamaru's surprise, she accepted. Since then, we've been together."

"And all that happened just because everyone thought I was dead?"

"Pretty much. A lot of things changed when that happened, Naruto. Kakashi even found someone. That's something in and of itself, so I hear." Chouji looked up at the sky. He could see the sun was barely starting to set. "So, what about you and Hinata? I mean, you two have been spending a lot of time together."

"You and everyone else think something's going on." Naruto sighed. "Nothing's going on between us. We spar, we have lunch together, but that's it."

"That's too bad. You two seem great together," Chouji commented, pulling the reins to the left, turning the horses a bit. "We should be nearing the town we'll stay at for the night.

Naruto looked down. It's not that he didn't like Hinata at all, it's just that he didn't want her to get hurt because of him. That was his biggest concern.

"Hey, Naruto, where's your sword?" Chouji finally noticed he hadn't seen Naruto's sword in quite a while.

Naruto held up his hand and opened it, showing his palm. He forced some chakra into his hand, revealing a seal on it. "I don't carry it on my back when I don't really need it. I have it sealed away in this storage seal on the palm of my hand."

"That's convenient."

"Yeah, it really is."

Hinata, Sakura, and Ino were just chatting inside the carriage.

"So, Hinata, what about you and Naruto, huh?" Ino asked, really excited to hear something juicy.

Hinata blushed a little and looked to the slide slightly. "Nothing," she replied.

Sakura raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean, nothing? You two have been spending the past two weeks with one another. I don't think there's been a time when I haven't seen you two walking around with one another."

"That's what I mean by nothing. I mean, there have been times when something was about to happen, but then Naruto just...I don't know. Nothing happens, and it goes back to what it was before." Hinata sounded a little upset over it.

"I don't get it," Sakura commented.

Ino sighed. "Well I don't know about you but if I had two of the five great villages, a secret organization made up of S class ninja, and an untold number of other enemies, I would probably be a bit hesitant to allow anyone close to me as well." Ino explained. Ino had a great deal of training when it came to the realms of psychology, seeing as she was part of the Yamanaka clan, who dealt with the mind. Her father had taught her a great deal, especially on being able to tell the reason why people acted the way they did. Ino got up and sat down next to Hinata. "Don't worry, Hinata. He'll come around soon enough. If he doesn't, we'll have Sakura here beat him up."

Hinata started laughing.

…

Ino, Hinata, and Sakura were sitting in a hot spring that was reserved along with some rooms at a rather fancy Inn on the way to the capital.

"I take back everything I said about the trip going slowly!" Ino declared relaxing in the warm soothing water. Ino was most definitely enjoying the hot spring.

"Yeah. It's so nice to be able to relax. I haven't been able to in a while," Sakura commented, sinking under the water before coming back up a few seconds later.

"I just want to go back home already," Hinata spoke, leaning back against the stone side of the hot spring.

Ino and Sakura looked at one another. They knew Hinata didn't want to do this at all. but she didn't exactly have a choice in the matter. It's not that Hinata had to marry this guy now, it's just that traditionally, you met several time with your husband to be.

"Well, don't worry Hinata. I'm sure Naruto will come around soon," Ino said, trying to cheer Hinata up, not that what she said would have that effect. "I hope," she whispered.

"I wonder if Naruto-kun is doing alright," Hinata mumbled. None of them had heard from either Chouji or Naruto in the hour since they got to the hot spring.

"Yeah, he looked pretty depressed when we arrived, here didn't he?" Ino asked. The blonde woman stood up, wrapping a towel around her body. She walked over to the divider that divided the two hot springs the group was using. "Chouji-kun!" she called.

"What's up, Ino-chan?" he replied.

"Is Naruto over there with you?"

"No. He said he'd be in shortly but that was an hour or so ago. He's probably still in the room standing on the balcony where I left him."

"I'm going to head inside now," Hinata commented, standing up, wrapping the towel around herself, and walking into the building.

"You think we should go after her?" Sakura asked.

"No. I think we should just leave her be for now," Ino replied.

Sakura looked down at her chest. "You know, it's really not fair how Hinata got such nice breasts." The rosette was complaining because hers were only a large A cup size.

"Tell me about it," Ino agreed, pushing her breasts together. She only had large B cup breasts. "Naruto is one lucky guy if he ever gets the hint."

….

Hinata had just put on a robe over herself. She was headed towards Naruto's room. She looked rather nervous. Quickly walking through the hallway, she found herself in front of Naruto's room. She was about to knock, but heard voices and just stood closely to the door to listen.

"_Why didn't you tell me you met my father, old man? You'd think that was something I should have been told, don't you think?"_

"_Perhaps. Let me ask you this. Would it have made a difference with anything you've done so far?" _came another voice Hinata had only heard once in the past.

"_Probably not. Why then?"_

"_I've been searching for a real apprentice for a very long time, Naruto. I've trained many from all the countries but all of them gave into their darker impulses after I taught them a few things. The second Tsuchikage and Mizukage, for instance. Both were vastly different before I trained them, but the power I gave them was too much for them, and they strayed from what I was trying to teach them. I've taught many before them but few since them."_

"_Yeah, well, why didn't you just train one of the Hokage then?"_

"_I taught the First Hokage, but as I did, I could see even he would fall eventually like all the others. All those wondrous techniques spread throughout the world weren't just made up out of nowhere, you know."_

"_Then why my dad?"_

Hinata crept closer to the door in order to hear better.

"_Ah, your father. He was quite the interesting individual. He was trying to create a jutsu based on seals to teleport himself to his enemy or to a certain place instantly. I watched him as he tried to make such a jutsu. When he couldn't figure out how to complete it, I took a chance. I helped him finish his jutsu, and sat back and watched how he used it. In the end, he didn't abuse the power, so I met him once again. Although, in the end, he turned me down."_

"_Why?"_

"_To be my apprentice is to eventually take my place and to live forever. One must be willing to watch everyone they know pass away, their wife, children, everyone. Your father couldn't do that. So I waited. When I found out he had a son before he died, I watched you. I wanted to see how you would turn out. Even in the harsh environment that you grew up in, you turned out exactly like him. You could have killed the two tailed container, but you didn't. Then a few days later, you could have completely destroyed Kumo's forces, but you didn't."_

"_I see."_

"_I should be going. That girl you saved the other day is standing outside the door, listening."_

"_I know."_

Hinata's body stiffened. She hadn't used her eyes to avoid detection. It seemed they both knew she was there the entire time.

"_You can come in, Hinata."_

Hinata opened the door when Naruto asked her to enter. She walked in and saw Naruto looking over the balcony. The other person in the room wasn't there anymore. Naruto didn't have his shirt on right now. The light from the full moon showed that his body was riddled with scars. The young Hyuga just stood there for a moment looking at Naruto.

"Who was he?" Hinata asked.

"My master," he replied. "If he really wants you to know who he is, he'll pop up one of these days and tell you. He's weird like that." Naruto turned around and faced Hinata.

Hinata gasped softly. There were even more scars on his chest than his back. One of them took up the whole right side of his chest. "What happened?"

Naruto looked down at his chest. He smiled and scratched his head. "I completely forgot I didn't have a shirt on."

"Naruto..." Hinata said his name again, wanting him to answer the question and not change the subject.

Naruto sighed, getting the hint she didn't want him to try and change the subject. "Most of these scars are from when I had my master turn off the Kyuubi's and I decided to make some really dangerous techniques. It basically cut me to bits, so to speak."

"Do they hurt?" she asked, gently touching one of the larger ones.

"Sometimes."

"Is this why you were always so adamant about keeping your shirt on, even even after hours of sparring?" she asked, concern evident in her voice.

"Yeah, one of the reasons."

Hinata decided to stop beating around the bush. "Why do you keep pushing me away?" She wanted to know directly from Naruto.

Naruto wrapped his arms around her petite frame. "Because I don't want to lose you..." he whispered, pulling her close.

Hinata felt safe in his arms. She'd never felt safe in someone's arms in a very long time. "You'll lose me if I get married to someone else."

"Hinata, I don't want to love someone, only to lose them." Naruto was referring to what the sage had said. "I don't think I can..."

Hinata looked up and silenced him with a kiss. The two just stood there, their lips locked for a time. The two broke apart, and Hinata laid her head against his chiseled and scarred chest. "Ever since I saw you again, I've been trying to tell you how I feel. I spent every day I could with you, and every time I tried to say something, the words wouldn't come out."

Naruto brought a hand up to Hinata's face and made her look up at him. "While we were in that cave, you were kind to me. More so than anyone has ever been. During that short amount of time, I fell in love with you. But you've heard what was said a little while ago, and I know Tsunade has her own theories on the matter."

"I know, but that won't stop me from trying..."

"Hinata, you're beautiful. You could have anyone you want. Why me?" He was truly curious as to why Hinata really liked him. He himself couldn't really understand it.

"Because you're so strong and kind. You help everyone you can without hesitation. You're also the most honest, decent, and compassionate person I've ever known." Hinata kissed him lightly on the lips. "And I don't want anyone else, Naruto-kun. The only reason I chose that man was because I had no other options. Regardless, I still have to go to the capital and meet with him again. No matter how much I hate him."

Naruto looked away from her. "Do you really want to be with someone like me, Hinata?"

Hinata brought her hands up to his face and made him look at her. "I do," she whispered, kissing him.

The two stood there, kissing one another. Their kisses were filled with passion, wanting, need, and a slight hint of fear of being hurt. They broke their kiss slowly and stood there, holding one another.

Naruto smiled at her. "You know, you looked amazing in that kimono."

Hinata blushed and smiled. "I know. You were kinda drooling."

Naruto chuckled. "Yeah, I guess I was. How are we going to deal with the stuff at the capital?"

"We still have to go, but once we get back to the village, I can send a letter, or if something happens while we're there, we'll deal with it."

"What about your clan?"

"The elders won't like it one bit. They never did like your father much, and you weren't ever on the top of their list, either."

"Good. I never wanted to be liked by them anyhow."

"So you want to have it out with the Hyuga elders?" Hinata asked, somewhat in disbelief.

"Sure, why not? They've made you miserable for years, so why not make them a little miserable for a short period of time?"

She smiled again. "Thank you."

"Now you should get going. It's late, and you should get some sleep. Not to mention I really don't want the others to know until we get back to the village, if it can be helped."

Hinata understood why Naruto wanted to wait until they got back home. She kissed him one last time and almost skipped out of the room in her robe.

"Kami, she was hot in that bathrobe." Naruto was actually really tempted to take Hinata right there and then while she was in the room just now. Not that Hinata would have minded that in the least.

….

The night came and went and for everyone. Hinata didn't tell anyone what happened between her and Naruto, and same could be said for Naruto. The two acted exactly as they always had.

"So, how long till we're there?" Ino asked, sticking her head out the window of the carriage. The fact was, it was already sun down. They had been traveling all day.

"We should be almost there, Ino-chan. We've been hitting towns pretty frequently," Chouji replied.

"Chouji, I really don't want to travel this way back. It's so damn slow," Naruto whined.

Chouji chuckled. "I thought you would have learned patience by now."

"Oh, I have, but this goes way beyond the level I could ever achieve," Naruto replied.

"So, Hinata, nothing happened last night at all?" Sakura asked. She and Ino had been asking repeatedly, and of course, she kept telling them nothing happened.

"For the hundredth time, nothing happened. I talked to him and then I left, that was it." Hinata actually looked annoyed by their constant prying.

"Oh, come on, Hinata! We won't tell anyone. We just want to know if Naruto's sampled the goods!" Ino said excitedly, getting right in Hinata's face.

"Ino, even if something happened, I wouldn't tell you. Seeing as you're considered the Gossip Queen of Konoha, the information would be flying around the village in less than a day." Hinata was a little proud of herself for that little dig at Ino, which was true. Ino was a gossip queen. If it didn't pertain to a mission, she couldn't keep her mouth shut.

Just as Ino was about to say something in her defense, Chouji interrupted.

"We just entered the capital. We'll be at the capital building in few minutes."

And just as Chouji had said, in a few minutes, they were at the capital building. Naruto and Chouji both hopped off the carriage in order to open the door. Chouji assisted Ino and Sakura when leaving while Naruto assisted Hinata. The five of them walked up the steps. When they stepped inside, they saw a man with short black hair and green eyes, who was shorter than Naruto, and had a rather muscular build.

"Ah, Hinata, it's been six months since we last met," the man said, arms open as he attempted to hug Hinata. Naruto appeared right in front of the man.

"Sorry, but I don't know you, and that means you're not getting near Hinata," Naruto said, looking at the man.

"Why are you getting in the way of me and fiance?" the man almost yelled. He seemed to have quite a short temper.

"It's alright, Naruto-kun. He is my fiance. His names Shin. He's the son of the Tea Daimyo."

* * *

A/N So, whatcha think?

I hoped you all liked this chapter as I liked it far better then the last one which was nothing more then a chapter to wined down what had happened before that. I hope you will take the time to review :)

Anyone else think of captain planet when they read chapter 553? Cause I sure as hell did. Not sure why he didn't try using that on the Third Raikage in chapter 555 but whatever. Not much else to say about the manga it hasn't really interested me much lately. Lots of really really short battles. That just gets boring after a while. A nice long drawn out fight thrown into the mix would be awesome. Not to mention Naruto meeting up with Hinata or something like that. Sadly at this rate it's never going to happen.

I was really hoping for some awesome fights from this war but that doesn't look like it's going to happen with any of the people Kabuto brought back to life. Which is what I was actually looking forward to when he brought them all back to life.

Thanks to Kyubi123 who helped me get over my little bit of writers block.

As a last note I redid my Naruto/bleach crossover. Chapter one being the prologue is up and the second chapter is already part done. Please try not to really judge the story till at least the second chapter.


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